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Alternative Worship - Jonny Baker [article in Relevant magazine for leaders Sept 05]

In an old gothic church in South London, images of the city are projected on white sheets that surround a worship space. The images are gritty and urban - towerblocks and street scenes. On the floor is a huge map of the city made out of pages of a London A-Z map. Bread and wine rest on a holy table – in this case a concrete slab on the floor. Encircling the concrete are words of scripture in a circle projected from above. An urban crowd, age range 20-40ish gradually drift in. A DJ is quietly spinning tunes that evoke an atmosphere. There are no pews just a hard floor to sit on. It is a fantastic space. This is part of a series called concrete liturgies by a Christian community Vaux – where they are exploring what it means to express faith and worship in the language of the city. One wonderful unforgettable moment is when everyone is invited to draw on the map a journey they have made in the city that week. The ink is pretty thick and stands up from the paper. The lights are turned out and a UV light is turned on. The effect is magical – the journeys that weave across the city glow in the dark. We listen to scriptures on the incarnation, that God loves the city and the people who live in the city, that Christ is in us and where we have been in the city Christ has been. It is a simply stunning moment. A few minutes later we are invited to interact with some prayer stations for the city that have been set up at various points around the worship space. One involves kneeling at a side chapel and praying intercessions for the city which are recorded onto a cassette tape. When we gather back together the prayers of the people for the city on the tape are taken and embedded in a concrete slab that is made there and then. This will no doubt become the table on which bread and wine are placed in a future worship service. We share a liturgy ,the urban mass, that has been crafted in such a way that it connects with the tradition of the church and yet the language has been remade to connect with the city. We remember Christ and eat drink his body and blood which becomes part of us as we are blessed and disperse to our homes in the city. This is an example of ‘alternative worship’, a creative movement that has quietly grown in the UK amongst young(ish) adults over the last twenty years.

In most of the Western world there are basically two types of worship you’re likely to find in churches. Liturgical worship that follows a set pattern or structure in a prayer book led by professional clergy is the basic diet of mainline denominations. And blocks of singing led by a keyboard player, guitarist or worship band are the staple diet of worship in charismatic/evangelical/pentecostal churches. On the one hand, the liturgy has depth but repeated week in week out can become very dry and formulaic, seems to reflect a bygone era, and makes very little connection with contemporary life. But on the other hand, worship led by a band whilst it can be exciting isn’t without its problems – a cult of the worship leader as a sort of guru has emerged, worship easily gets trapped into performance mode, and the range of theology in the songs is often pretty thin. It seems to suit an adolescent stage of faith which is brilliant if that’s where you are at. But when you have been a Christian for a few years, your faith is equally as real but you probably have a different set of questions and struggles. When a friend is diagnosed with cancer, raising kids is a challenge, God is distant, or life is hard this kind of worship can seem irrelevant and disconnected from everyday life. Themes that are commonplace in the hymnology of the psalms – anger, lament, disorientation, exile – just don’t seem to fit with this modern worship culture.

I meet increasing numbers of adults who are struggling with this dilemma. Alternative worship has ploughed a third way, a way that embraces contemporary (postmodern) culture but whilst re-engaging and reframing tradition at the same time. It’s creative, liturgical, contextual and passionate.

I recently went to a worship service in Bangalore India. The building was like an English castle, the liturgy was spoken in English, we sat on pews, the hymn tunes were Western and played on an organ, and the priest wore long robes. In fact I could easily have been in a Cathedral in London a hundred years ago but I was in India! This is the opposite of what I mean by contextual. Worship that is contextual is expressed in the language, signs and symbols of that culture so that it feels authentic and doesn’t alienate people by seeming foreign. Too often church feels foreign to those outside it because of the cultural forms of worship. Alternative worship has intentionally made worship out of the stuff of everyday life and popular culture to help bring the real world into church and help people relocate God back in the real world. The heart of the Christian story is the Passion – Christ’s self giving love supremely shown in his death on the cross. Following in the way of Christ calls us to be passionate (self giving) people. True worship according to Romans 12:1-2 is precisely that - our whole selves offered to God as living sacrifices which is why this connection with the real world is so important.

I am involved in an alternative worship community in London, Grace, that has been going for about 13 years. We recently had a service we called simply ‘slow’. The worship space was divided into two halves by back to back projection screens. On one side a VJ mixed slow images and the other fast images. People sat whichever side they related to most. We took about 10 minutes in contemplative prayer to quiet down in God’s presence. All the while ambient tunes were played by a DJ. A glass jar with sand in was shaken and placed to settle down as picture of what stilling our hearts might be like. An image of the jar was projected on the screens while we listened to Radiohead’s The Tourist with the lyric ‘hey man slow down’ projected over the image of the jar. The story of Mary and Martha was used as the basis for thinking about the pace of our lives and whether we are naturally more commuters or contemplatives and what pace God might be calling us to. The service had been inspired by Asian theologian, Kosuke Koyama who suggests in ‘The three Mile an Hour God’ that God’s pace is walking pace. A couple of chants were sung over chilled electronic tracks and we made prayer bracelets and used the Orthodox Jesus prayer as a way of asking for God’s mercy in our lives. In response to the service we were invited to take away a boiled sweet to suck on slowly if we want to ask God to help us slow down or a soft sweet to eat quickly if we felt the need to speed up.

In one short article it’s hard to capture a movement but I hope it gives a bit of a flavour. I am of course completely biased – I love this kind of worship. I find it connects me afresh with God and fires me up to re-engage with the real world. However, it would be a mistake to think that it is a new solution to be copied. The important part is not the sylistic aspects of worship – different music, video loops, and so on, i.e. another consumer choice. The real gift and challenge that alt worship makes is for us all to get creative and contextual and grow worship that is truly the work of the people in our own communities.

Alternative Worship - Offering Clues For Renewing Worship - Jonny Baker [in Resource (anglican renewal) in 06]

Over the last 15 years the movement that has been called 'alternative worship' has ploughed a furrow in worship coming up with inspiring new songs, liturgies, rituals, visuals, installations, artistic creations and worship experiences. I personally have found it incredibly exciting, renewing my faith and sparking my imagination in all sorts of ways.

When the movement began it was shocking. Visual projections, new technologies, DJ music, and so on all seemed out of place in church. The re-theologising that went with it to contextualise the gospel in a postmodern world was also perceived as threatening. However the climate has now changed and many of the discoveries made in alternative worship don't seem so shocking any more - many of the creative practices have crept into the mainstream and actually they hold some clues for how to renew worship in many of our churches. Alternative worship groups were simply early adopters on the front edge of what was to come.

False Dilemma
In worship there seems to be a choice between the liturgical tradition which is served up in a very similar fashion each week. Whilst it holds the potential for depth it can easily dry up for people and seem very samey. On the other hand the more charismatic tradition in worship has created space for free expression in singing intimate songs of praise and worship, along with ministry. But this worship often dries up for different reasons - it lacks depth and has ended up being very predictable in its own way as well. The range of themes and language in the songs and prayers simply doesn't address all the issues of life. After a few years people want something more. Alternative worship looked for a third path that broke that false dilemma. In doing so it turned back to the liturgical traditions of the church but reframed them often in simple but imaginative ways, making connections with everyday life and popular culture. This is why I think many of the groups found a home in Anglican churches, because they were finding ways to make the traditions live again rather than turning away from them. It is common to find groups working with the seasons of the church calendar, using basic structures of services as building blocks for liturgies, finding forgotten treasures in the tradition such as the labyrinth and reinventing them, taking communion back into the context of a meal and so on.

Creativity
At the heart of alternative worship is creativity and imagination. I am a member of Grace, an alternative worship community that is a congregation of St Marys in Ealing. The creative ideas that have come out of a small group of people there is amazing – I so enjoy the creativity in the group. Our best worship services always have revolved around good ideas. Executing them is the easy bit usually. There are several myths around creativity. One of the myths is that it is a gift that some special people have. If we don't think we have the gift we shrug our shoulders and say 'I'm not creative'. According to a survey the difference between someone who is creative and someone who is not is that people who are creative think they are! So one of the challenges in our communities is to encourage an environment where people believe that they are creative because they are made in God's image. This also has to be an environment in which failure is acceptable and we as leaders let go of control – if we can’t fail and haven’t got permission we won’t risk being creative.

Participation
The root meaning of the word liturgy is 'the work of the people'. How can we recover the notion of worship as liturgy in this way? We live in a consumer culture and we easily get trapped in provider/client relationships in churches. We the leaders are the providers who serve up worship for our congregations. Alternative worship communities have shared out the production of worship in radical ways. To be involved means to participate and create. It's hard to just be passive. We recently had a service in lent that was a 'bring your own station' service. We gave people the theme and some suggested passages such as Jesus journey into the desert and people then had to come with something to set up in the worship space. In the end 14 people brought things ranging from an icon and candle, reflections for prayer, original film/animation sequences, readings, and so on. After a brief introduction and opening prayer, the worship service was simply to walk round and interact with the stations while music was quietly played in the background. We then concluded with a final prayer together. It was stunning. It could also have been a disaster if no-one brought anything and we genuinely had no idea what people were going to do in advance. Two people did things at that service who had never contributed before which was especially pleasing. Also in lent we ran a lent blog – a web site where a different member of the community can post a reflection each day to help us reflect on our discipleship through lent. Both these things were highly participative. A key task of leadership is to shape the cultural environment. How can we shape that environment to be one of creativity and participation?

Risk
I have learned that when we have a planning session with free flowing ideas it is often the most crazy ideas that end up being the best things we have done. I can think of a Grace meeting where someone suggested getting a huge block of ice to suspend off some scaffolding, or another where we floated the notion of text message confessions where people would send their confession as a text message and receive an absolution in reply, or the use of a parachute in worship or recording meditations for a narrated labyrinth journey where we gave people individual CD walkmans. All of these notions were absurd at the time but we ended up taking the risk of pursuing them and have done those and many more. Tony Campolo tells of a survey amongst old people where they are asked to reflect on their lives and think what they would do differently. One of the things that came out is that they would risk more. Our next worship service at Grace is walking an outdoor labyrinth - we have got to mow it in the grass at the front of the church. When we came up with this idea we didn't know how to mow a labyrinth and didn't have a mower. Now we have borrowed one and think we can do it with some careful planning with string, some tent pegs, and sticks, and fine weather - it should be fun. This is to celebrate the coming of the Spirit so we will anoint people with oil and pray for the filling of the Spirit in the centre. Then we are having storytelling around a firewok (a portable fire). It's a risk but I am sure we won't regret it.

Engagement
One of the brilliant things about alternative worship has been its engagement with everyday life and popular culture. The music, images and rituals often make connections that engage in this way. A track played in a service may well be heard on the radio in the week. A visual projection (trafiic for example) may remind you of the worship as you drive through the city. This incarnational instinct is really important in mission. Use the stuff of everyday life as the building blocks for worship. This brings the real world into our worship and enables God to be relocated in everyday life. The other aspect of engagement is to take the creative worship and spirituality out into the cultural market place rather than just doing it behind our four walls. Just recently I have taken part with some others in running a stand at the London mind body spirit festival which has all sorts of alternative spiritualities. We set up some prayer stations and offered foot massage and prayer for healing with the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. It was incredible how open people were and wanting prayer. But these people would never have come to one of our worship services. So a question several alternative worship communities are wrestling with is how to take the best of what we create, and engage out there rather than expecting people to come to us.

These four words - creativity, participation, risk and engagement are actually the ethos of Grace, the alternative worship community I am part of. We identified these values as part of a weekend reflection last year on where we were headed as a community.

First Steps
Sometimes if you visit a service of an alternative worship group it can be intimidating so how do you begin to incorporate new ideas into worship in your church? There are two routes I think. The first is to start something parallel to your existing services. In this case I think you should pull together a small group of interested people. If there is anything close by go and visit and evaluate. Greenbelt is also a wonderful place to visit. Then pick a festival in the church calendar, dream some ideas together and plan something not in the main morning service. Invite other people and see where it leads. The second is to change the culture of worship production and consumption in your church one step at a time. Incorporate the gifts of the community in worship so that it truly becomes the work of the people. Again start small - begin with the prayers that often have space for ritual, trying new things and so on and build up until people from the community are leading lots of aspects of the worship and suggesting ideas and creating things in ways you never imagined.

Alternative Worship and the Significance of Popular Culture - Jonny Baker

Introduction

The recent English Church Attendance Survey confirmed with hard evidence that church attendance has declined drastically over the last 20 years. The
decline is particularly bad in the main denominational churches. The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have each seen Sunday
attendance drop between 40 and 50% in the last two decades. It is worst amongst the young. The number of young people under 15 leaving the church
each week is 1000; the number under 19 has halved; the number in their twenties has declined by 45% (Brierley 2000).

This confirms what many other writers have been saying - the church seems increasingly outmoded and irrelevant. The tragic irony is that this is at a time
when spirituality is very much on peoples'; agenda and part of their lives. But they are not looking to the institutional churches or the Christian faith
to meet their quest for spiritual meaning and experience.

Paradigm thinking is one way to make sense of what is taking place. This posits that the history of the Western church fits into six discernible paradigms
of time. In each of these periods Christians struggled to incarnate the faith in that particular culture. However ';a style of Christianity successful in
one era changes as another era begins. Those who remain committed to the old style of faith freeze that style in the particular culture in which it
originated'; (Webber, 1999). This process accounts for much of the diversity in the world-wide church today. We can see the different styles of
church from different eras continuing in the present. In the current time of transition from modernity to postmodernity, we see this process taking place
again. Several writers have made the same observation ';A number of the deeper difficulties we face are because the forms of our common life have,
over recent centuries, become wedded to modernism…… Now that the times are changing the form of the church needs to change with
it.'; (Riddell, Pierson and Kirkpatrick, 2000) There is a need for new plausibility structures (Walker, 1996) and a renewal of imagination concerning
the form of the church (Cray, 1998, p24).

Alternative Worship

One strategy for incarnating the Christian faith in the present postmodern era is what has become known as ';alternative worship';.
Alternative worship has been around for over a decade now. There are several groups around Britain and several others in New Zealand and Australia (for a
list of groups and their stories see the CDrom in Riddell et al, 2000). Alternative worship ';arises from the need for the church to engage with a
culture shift, from the patterns of Christian life which took shape in modernity, to a faith which brings the authentic message of Christ to bear on life in
postmodernity'; (Roberts, 1999).

Alternative worship is much more than a cosmetic change to the style of church. It really has a different plausibility structure with its own authenticity
(Two summaries of what characterises alternative worship or gives it authenticity can be found in Riddell et al, 2000, p79-80 and Roberts, 1999, p5, 14).
One way in which alternative worship is deemed to be authentic is if it resonates with the curators of the worship and with the culture outside the church. I
want to suggest that the use of popular culture in the worship is one of the ways in which this resonance is established. It is this aspect of alternative
worship that I will discuss.

Popular Culture in Alternative Worship

Popular culture features in a myriad ways in alternative worship. The space itself is likely to be marked out by televisions with looped images and screens
with projected still images. These might well include traditional icons but are usually interspersed with images from contemporary culture – for
example, a McDonald';s sign juxtaposed with a slogan ';fast food'; for lent; or a looped image of a sped up tube journey to convey the
busyness of urban life.

Often there is a continual backdrop of music tracks, much of it instrumental but carefully selected from the chill out end of dance music. Vocal tracks that
either have a spiritual message or have words that are made meaningful by the context they are played in are used. For example Holy Joes played
'The Drugs Don't Work' by The Verve in the sharing of bread and wine at their communion service at Greenbelt in 1998 when the
song had just recently been number one in the singles chart. Musical accompaniment to songs is likely to be either sampled loops or dance tracks
– whatever way they are constructed, they closely connect with particular subcultural styles of popular music. One example of this kind of
accompaniment is that Sanctuary sing the hymn ';Amazing Grace'; to a track based on a sample of Massive Attack';s track
';Protection';. When the singing finishes, Tracey Thorn';s voice comes in singing ';you took the force of the blow –
protection';.

The signs and symbols used in rituals may well incorporate popular cultural resources. The labyrinth constructed at St Paul';s cathedral in March
2000 involved the use of a Discman to listen to music as you walked the labyrinth. At one station en route, there was a computer with a screen of
animated candles – as an act of prayer you lit a candle by moving the mouse and clicking on it on the screen which would ';light'; the
candle. The language in liturgy and prayer references popular culture – Grace have a liturgy for communion on the theme of hospitality. One of the
lines in the Eucharistic prayer is ';you ate the bread, drank the wine – everybody having a good time'; which is a quote from
U2';s song ';Until the end of the world';.

The extent to which popular cultural resources are used in alternative worship is fairly widespread. Their use is seemingly effortless – the
resources are readily available at the fingertips of those constructing the worship. The way they are used displays a very high level of ';subcultural
capital';. For example in the version of ';Amazing Grace'; mentioned above, using a sample from Massive Attack is a sign to those in
the know of a good subcultural capital bank account, but what is especially impressive is that the sample is carefully selected from Brian Eno';s
remix of the track! The point isn';t that Sanctuary are trying to impress anyone. It';s that this kind of use of popular cultural resources is
instinctive. It would be very easy to dismiss this usage of popular culture as nothing more than a gimmick, a change of style, a kind of trendy church
syndrome, but I suggest that what is going on is much more significant than that.

Popular Cultural Resources use in Constructing Identity, Meaning and Habitable Space

In a consumer society people use the cultural resources available to them to make meaning by constructing a sense of their own self and the world in

which that self lives. For large numbers of people, especially those born since the sixties, popular culture has provided the majority of these resources.
This is because it has been so much a part of their lives and language – ';the amniotic fluid that sustains us'; (Beaudoin, 1998).
Stuart Hall defines representation as ';the process by which members of a culture use language to produce meaning'; (Hall, 1997). Popular
culture, as a significant part of peoples language, is thus used to make meaning in representation. Andy Bennett conducted a study looking at how
popular music functions in this way for groups of young people in a range of localities and ';neotribes'; (Bennett, 2000). He says that they
';use popular cultural resources to construct meaning and authenticity';. This is often in ways different to those intended by the cultural
producers. One use young people make of popular music is to mark out space – ';forms of popular music and their accompanying stylistic
innovations are one of the key ways in which local spaces can be appropriated and made habitable';. He also shows that this marking out of space
is very much informed by the local context and in turn helps construct the local.

These insights from Cultural Studies help understand what is taking place in alternative worship. If culture is a site for contested meanings (Storey, 1996)
, alternative worship groups have struggled to establish meaning and authenticity by appropriating and marking out habitable local spaces. Popular music,
stylistic innovations and other popular cultural resources are key ways in which this is done. They are very significant for the identity and authenticity of
alternative worship groups and as discussed above establishing resonance. This struggle for meaning takes place on two fronts – resistance to the
dominant capitalism in the Western world, and also resistance to the dominant forms of church. Space that is habitable is carved out within and in
opposition to both of these dominant cultures. In this sense alternative worship groups are resistant communities.

Incarnational vs. Ecstatic Theologies of Worship

The fact that what is taking place in the construction of alternative worship has been observed elsewhere by academics in Cultural Studies doesn';t
suggest that it is necessarily a good thing. Lots of strategies for mission have ended up capitulating to the cultures they are trying to reach in an attempt
to be relevant. Alternative worship as a strategy for resistance and contextualisation in postmodernity needs underpinning by theology as well as its
intuitive grasp of the language, signs and symbols of the culture.

Many writers on mission and culture articulate the importance of the incarnation as their basic theological inspiration. ';The incarnation itself gives
us the model of relevance. God shows up on our turf speaking our language so that we might understand'; (Riddell et al., 2000). Webber suggests
that ';The root problem of our confusion over spirituality may be found in the failure to understand the implications of the incarnation';
(Webber, 1999). Whilst every alternative worship group is different I suggest that for most, the incarnation is a theological foundation. It undergirds their
seemingly intuitive approach to using popular culture in worship.

Paul Roberts contrasts alternative worship';s theology of incarnation with one of ecstasy in terms of worship (Roberts, 1999). He writes that
';alternative worship relocates God back within the physical domain, so to experience God means to encounter him in and through the created
things around – symbolically, iconically, sacramentally';. This is not to blur the distinction between Creator and creation but to say that God
is experienced in the everyday. Alternative worship groups are aware that ';revelation never happens in an unmediated encounter with God';
(Dulles, 1983). They therefore tend to know their own part in constructing rituals and an experiential environment and are not surprised when these enable
people to encounter God because ';the sacred is always cloaked in cultural forms'; (Beaudoin, 1998). But because of the awareness of their
own role are slow to make too great claims for it. With this incarnational approach, the use of popular culture in worship powerfully brings ';the real
world'; into the presence of God and enables God';s presence to be discerned back in that ';real world';. Any notion of a split
between sacred and secular is rejected. Groups ';are willing to use ideas, materials and forms from the secular world in worship'; (Riddell et
al, 2000). Implicit in this incarnational approach is a very positive theology of creation and its redemption.

In an ecstatic approach ';God is located outside the physical domain'; (Roberts, 1999). He is experienced outside of cultural forms. Often the
term used is ';supernaturally'; - worship is focused on ecstatic experience in which God is encountered ';supernaturally'; (rather
than naturally). In a culture of ';sensation gatherers'; (Baumann) ecstasy has a wide appeal. The reason alternative worship has resisted this
theological basis for worship is not because it is against ecstatic experiences of God. This is far from the case. In fact one problem of Roberts';
framing of incarnation vs ecstasy is that it could be seen to imply that there is no ecstasy in an incarnational approach which is clearly not so. However
most alternative worship groups would reject experience as the absolute touchstone by which we can be sure we';ve met with God (I suspect that
many charismatic groups would as well). The reasons for opting for an incarnational rather than an ecstatic approach are more to do with where it leads
you. Following the ecstatic line where God is encountered outside of culture can easily lead to a negative view of culture and ';the world'; and
to exaggerated claims of truth about God and what he has said. In worst case scenarios salvation is about escape from the world and getting a ticket to
heaven. In the meantime energy goes into fuelling a subculture in which ecstatic encounters can be maintained but which has very little resonance with
what is going on outside, in the ';real world';. This ends up with a very dualistic view, a negative theology of creation and at best a limited
scope of redemption. The follow through on the truth issue is that an ecstatic approach suggests that an individual can hear objectively from God and have
an objective experience of him. This sounds highly suspect to postmodern ears – put simply lots of peoples truth claims have been shown to be
false. The Church herself, having done all sorts of regrettable things in the name of God, is clearly not exempt. It fails to recognise the embedded nature
of all of our positions, in other words that this supposed objectivity is not really available to us. This is particularly noticeable in a world where lots of
cultures and theological takes live side by side. An incarnational approach doesn';t have the same problem. It doesn';t need to make such
great claims for its take on the story or the experiences people have. It attempts to improvise faithfully to ';enable people to encounter God within
the context of their own subcultural sign/symbol posts'; (Riddell et al, 2000) but recognises the planners part in the construction. It is more akin to
Lindbeck';s ';cultural linguistic'; view that says that ';meaning is constituted by the uses of a specific language rather than
being distinguishable from it'; (Lindbeck, 1984).

Icons of the present

The use of icons in worship, particularly the image of Christ, has caused much theological debate and controversy down the centuries. In his book
';God';s Human face'; Schonborn outlines the various threads of debate, especially surrounding the iconoclastic controversy of the 8th
century AD (Schonborn, 1994). Interestingly, he states that the heart of the debate was about the incarnation - ';He who rejects the icon also
rejects the Incarnation: this is the common conviction of all defenders of images.'; Whereas ';contempt for matter is one of the most striking
traits of iconoclasm';. The rules for painting icons are very tightly controlled in the tradition. In large part this is because the icons are primarily
seen as ';theology in colour' in contrast with much Western art which is seen as romantic and an individual';s interpretation.

Popular culture is heavily image oriented and iconographic. ';The icon is the common currency of our popular culture'; (Beaudoin, 1998).
Edward Robinson has written a book entitled ';Icons of the present'; (Robinson, 1993). In this he argues that the arts have always had a
crucial role to play in evoking the presence of the holy, functioning as ';windows on eternity';. This is particularly the case when in a well
established religious tradition the conventional language of the sacred has become over familiar – art opens up perception in new ways, enabling
us to see the world with new eyes. He argues that a spiritual tradition needs to be continually renewing itself if it is to be faithful to its own tradition.
';Every revelation is initially culture bound: it speaks the language, it uses the image of its own time and society. If it did not, communication would
be impossible. Every tradition if it is to live has continually to be breaking that mould, and every succeeding mould.'; So what are needed are icons
of the present, that keep revelation alive by representing that mystery in the language of the here and now. He goes on to suggest that when any
iconographic style ceases to be earthed in the present, whilst its images may still exert a powerful grip on the mind and heart, the dangers both of
nostalgia and otherworldliness become very real.

It seems to me that these insights describe very succinctly much of what is going on in alternative worship. Groups are engaged in a process of
producing icons of the present to represent the holy in the language of the here and now. Popular culture is a significant part of that language. To give a
concrete example, Grace had a series of services that looked at traditional iconography in the Eastern Orthodox Church and then at various
representations of the Image of Christ. The question raised by the series was about how to represent Christ now. Several things were striking in these
services. One was a reading that pointed out how most of our mental images of Christ are either ';oldy worldy'; or ';ethnic';
(nostalgic and otherworldly as Robinson says above) and very rarely anything that would fit in urban city life in London where Grace is located. Another
was a photo montage of the disciples made from images of young adults taken out of contemporary style or dance magazines which powerfully related
the gospel to now – the disciples could have been your mates. At one of the services people were invited to bring things that functioned as icons
for them and to say something about them and put them on the communion table. Popular culture featured highly with images, music tracks and even a
luminous plastic star placed on the table.

Popular Culture ';Out Of Place'; in church

The church can easily dismiss icons of the present, especially using popular culture in the kind of way I describe above as bad taste or a gimmick. In part
this is because a high/low view of culture still seems to be prevalent. But I think it';s more that the cultural forms of church have become so
normative that to insiders they have become the most ';natural'; or ';correct'; way of worshipping God – you might say
culture has become an invisible part of the equation. (Taylor and Willis, 1999 describe how this process takes place more generally). In this reification,
popular culture is simply ';out of place'; because it transgresses established symbolic boundaries. Television, say, in church is not
';natural';. (It is interesting that in churches that do use video they tend to show either a video produced by Christians or a film clip to
illustrate a point in a talk, very rarely something integrated into the worship itself). Change takes time in any culture. ';The Story of the Sony
Walkman'; records how the walkman transgressed social boundaries because it brought what was a private act – private listening –

into public spaces. It was similarly ';out of place'; but now it has become accepted. Maybe this will be the case with popular culture and
church. The use of worship bands with electric guitars and microphones has become enculturated where it wasn';t some years ago. Perhaps
alternative worship will be seen to ';offer a way forward for the church'; (Roberts, 1999).

Whilst it is true that several alternative worship groups have managed to find space to exist within denominations (notably the C of E), it is very difficult at
present to see this process of enculturation taking place on a much wider scale. This is for several reasons, including those mentioned above. But the
chief ones are to do with power and control. Time and again the experience of those either in alternative worship or youth ministry taking new and creative
approaches to worship is that they are misunderstood. Rather than contextualising the gospel in a variety of subcultures the expectation from the church
side is that they will socialise people into what already exists as church i.e. put ';bums on pews';. Those who hold the power call the shots
and can control what is or is not permissible. Often this is done by an appeal to uphold the tradition or what is ';biblical';. The problem here
is self evident – those preserving the tradition, the ones with the power, are the very ones who claim that what they are already doing is both
biblical and the way the tradition is preserved! A fresh understanding of tradition is desperately needed if the church is to avoid the slide into ever
increasing irrelevance.

Reframing Tradition

In a postmodern culture tradition and continuity are actually an incredible gift. Without the tradition there would be no Christian faith now. At a time when
culture seems to be changing so fast, to be able to be located in a tradition that has been passed down for 2000 years gives a real sense of
';weight';, a much needed anchor point in the world. Being located within the Christian tradition and seeking to be faithful to it helps to avoid
groups'; and individuals'; beliefs becoming too subjective or personal – it offers a check on spirituality (Beaudoin, 1998). It also turns
out to be a tradition with a vast amount of resources and an incredible global network. The basic and seemingly obvious point about the Christian tradition
is that it is living and not closed or completed. In this respect the kind of use of ';tradition'; to defend the status quo as outlined above is not
faithful to the tradition at all. Jaroslav Pelikan says that in this kind of scenario religious leaders are defending not tradition but traditionalism (Pelikan,
1984). One is living, the other is dead. Part of the process of carrying a tradition forward is struggling with it, and engaging in its debates as to how its
inquiries can be carried forward. A tradition needs diversity at its heart. In this respect whilst tradition does in some respects provide limits, it also gives
the tools to liberate us from the way traditions have been used against us. Wherever the message of Jesus for today is distorted the tradition needs
correction. To keep reforming religious tradition in a prophetic spirit is to be faithful. This reformatory impulse is at the heart of the tradition. To deny it is
';to disallow that subversive and dangerous memory of Jesus in the church'; (Tracy, 1991). But paradoxically it is the resources from within
the tradition itself which will subvert the inadequacies and injustices of a religious tradition (Beaudoin, 1998). To preserve a tradition then is to ';drive
to the heart of it to understand its significance and then do our best to re-present the same field of reference in our own context'; (Riddell in Ward et
al, 1999). Alternative worship groups are in this sense well located within the tradition, regarding the One they follow as the ';Holy
Subversive'; and themselves when they are true to Him as ';sanctified subversives';.

Conclusion

I conclude by summarising the argument thus far and making some final remarks. I have argued that alternative worship is one strategy for
contextualisation and resistance in postmodernity. Popular culture is one aspect of the language of alternative worship that helps establish resonance and
gives it authenticity. (There are lots of other aspects – I have just been interested in discussing this one here). On the surface, the use of popular
culture does not appear that significant – it';s by no means the answer to the church';s problems. But underlying its usage is a
strong incarnational theology and an understanding of tradition that needs continual renewal if it is to be faithful to itself. Whilst it is just a snapshot, the
church';s resistance to popular culture and ';icons of the present'; in alternative worship betrays the depth of the crisis it faces. It has
reified cultural forms that are located in the past, and uses its power and control to preserve those forms. This is true across the denominations.
It';s not my denomination so perhaps I am out of place to comment on it but it is surprising that even in the Orthodox church which has an
iconographic tradition, the rigidity surrounding the usage of icons creates precisely the same problem as elsewhere. Battles raged in this tradition to
uphold the importance of the incarnation. Whilst it might be a bit over dramatic, I conclude by saying that in rejecting popular culture the church is in
danger of rejecting or undermining the importance of the incarnation once again.

Written by Jonny Baker, April 2000

Bibliography

Baumann, Zygmunt (1995) Life In Fragments Blackwell

Beaudoin, Tom (1998) Virtual Faith Jossey Bass

Bennet, Andy (2000) Popular Music and Youth Culture Macmillan Press Ltd

Bosch, David (1991) Transforming Mission Orbis Books

Brierley, Dr Peter (2000) The Tide is Running Out Christian Research

Clapp, Rodney (1996) A Peculiar People IVP

Cray, Graham (1998) Postmodern culture And Youth Discipleship Grove Books Ltd

Du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay and Negus (1997) Doing Cultural studies: The Story Of The Sony Walkman Sage Publications

Dulles, Avery (1983) Models of Revelation Doubleday

Frith, Simon (1996) Performing Rites: Evaluating Popular Music Oxford University Press

Gadamer, Hans Georg (1994) Truth and Method Continuum

Hall, Stuart (ed) (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations And Signifying Practices Sage Publications

Kuhn, Thomas (1962) The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions University of Chicago Press

Kung, Hans (1988) Theology For The Third Millenium Doubleday

Lindbeck, George (1984) The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age Philadelphia:Westminster

MacIntyre, Alisdair (1988) Whose Justice? Which Rationality? University of Notre Dame Press

Morgan, David (1998) Visual Piety University of California Press

Pelikan, Jaroslav (1984) The Vindication of Tradition Yale University Press

Riddell Michael (1998) Threshold Of The Future SPCK

Riddell, Pierson, Kirkpatrick (2000) The Prodigal Project SPCK

Roberts, Paul (1999) Alternative Worship in the Church of England Grove Books Ltd

Robinson, Edward (1993) Icons of the Present SCM Press Ltd

Schonborn, Christoph (1994) God';s Human Face Ignatius Press

Storey, John (1996) Cultural Studies And The Study Of Popular Culture: Theories And Methods Edinburgh University Press

Taylor, Lisa and Willis, Andrew (1999) Media Studies: Texts, Institutions and Audiences Blackwell Publishers

Thornton, Sarah (1995) Club Cultures Polity Press

Tracy, David (1991) The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism Crossroad

Walker, Andrew (1996) Telling The Story SPCK

Ward, Pete (1997) Youthwork And The Mission Of God SPCK

Ward, Pete (ed) (1999) Mass Culture The Bible Reading Fellowship

Webber, Robert (1999) Ancient Future Faith Baker Books

Alternative worship: some notes on getting started - Steve Collins

Basics:

'Alternative worship' is about bringing your real self and your real world into church - not just exercising your 'religious' side, and not using church as an escape from the outside world. People usually get involved in 'alternative worship' when they find that their normal form of worship, of whatever denomination, is preventing them from bringing their real needs and concerns honestly and openly before God. This can be as true of modern forms of worship which deny people's real situations as it is true of old forms of worship whose relevance has been exhausted. Acting a part in church is profoundly damaging to your relationship with God and with your fellow Christians! Conversely it can be profoundly healing to come before God and your fellow worshippers in honesty and find acceptance. Church after all is meant to be a place where we face reality in the presence of God and find healing and strength to live as God's people.

For most of us, this process involves making church out of the elements of our everyday lives - the issues, the culture, the language, the media, the music. Church becomes more like home - a place where we belong and which belongs to us. And this can help us to see that home, and the rest of our world, can be church - life lived in the presence of God.

This certainly doesn't rule out the use of historical elements and traditions; they have shaped our spiritual lives, it would be dishonest to deny them. However, the historical elements you use should be those that are meaningful to you, not just hangovers from the past that nobody has really thought about.

It is best to establish a separate service to experiment in rather than trying to do it in the 'normal' services at your church. This minimises the risk of offence or disruption to people's cherished worship habits - if they don't like what you're doing, they don't have to come! This also frees you from any need to conform to pre-existing worship patterns - you have a clean slate. Successful innovations can be introduced into other services later if wanted.
The team:

Reimagining worship involves time and thought, so you need a small group who will meet regularly to plan services a week or two in advance. Get as wide a variety of people and skills as you can on the team. Involve as many as possible in the actual presenting of the services. Try to achieve a balance of male and female voices and perspectives. Some people will have very obvious skills to contribute, but don't let them get stuck in the rut of only doing those things. They may have other talents too, and others may be able to do what they can do. At Grace everybody contributes ideas to the planning of a service, but then the various pieces of it are handed out to whoever is available/willing. So people end up doing things they had never envisaged doing, and sometimes unsuspected talents are revealed. Remember that stumbling but genuine contributions are worth far more in worship than empty fluency. Everybody is creative, being made in the image of God; part of the purpose of alternative worship is to help people rediscover this truth for thmselves. As well as healing people's self-worth, creative expression opens new channels of communication to God and to others.
Leadership:

Try to avoid putting the team up on a stage and reducing the congregation to an audience. Leadership is about helping other people to have their own encounter with God.
Congregational involvement:

Provide activities and discussions that the congregation can do without intervention from the team, and can maybe give feedback on. Much of the worship can be done by providing 'stations' containing things that people can use or not use, in their own ways and time. Not everyone needs to do the same thing at the same time.

In fact, in many ways alternative worship is about providing a set of tools for the congregation to construct their own worship with.
Modernity [post if you like]:

Don't be modern for its own sake.

Don't keep old stuff if it means nothing; rewrite/reinvent or junk it.
Multimedia:

Don't get carried away with multimedia that looks impressive but means nothing. Beware of unintended meanings; be aware of the underlying 'feel' of what you're doing. Beware of images/effects which are so startling that they are all that anyone will remember of the service [unless they make an intended point, of course].
Mistakes:

This is an experiment, so things will sometimes not work out, or the equipment will go wrong, or someone will make a hash of something. Relax - you're only human [church is a good place to acknowledge this]. God doesn't mind, and the congregation don't know what was supposed to happen anyway. If you must do something that requires tight integration of several things at once, rehearse - but if the whole service requires rehearsal and not just a run-through you're trying too hard to impress people. This isn't a worship show.
Risks:

Dare to take risks, with your creativity, with your congregation, with God [who likes it]. Seek honesty not respectability, seek truth not safety. Obviously, gauge your audience, but one of the sins of the Church is that it wimps out, tries to be 'nice'. The real world isn't 'nice', childbirth isn't 'nice', crucifixion isn't 'nice', and worship that touches reality is healing. But don't cause needless offence or hurt if you can help it, and never be shocking just for show.

Of course some people will be shocked or offended by the mere fact of you doing something different in church. Ignore them as nicely as you can. They don't have to come if they don't like it. Tell them you have a right to go to hell in your own way, and so do they.
Numbers:

Numbers in alternative worship services don't have to be large - in fact it is possible to have too many, if people will need to move around the worship space to do things. Too many people and half of them end up as an audience, who watch rather than participate. Intimacy is well worth aiming for, it walks hand in hand with community and communion.
Resources/materials:
Written stuff, eg stories, meditations, readings, poems, liturgies:

Remember this is about finding your own voice in worship, so write your own stuff as much as you can. People who think they can't write may turn out to be very good - the secret is to have something to say that you care about. Grace use Mike Riddell, CS Lewis, Douglas Coupland, Thomas Merton, Celtic liturgy and poetry, traditional Anglican liturgies and writings, Ignatian meditation, whatever means something real to us.
Images eg video, slides:

See the 'Using Images in Worship' notes also on this website for a full treatment of this aspect. I just make a couple of comments here.

Images of ordinary things, of your everyday surroundings, can have enormous meaning used in church, perhaps with a meditation or prayer. They can be a way of bringing your normal environment before God, and of seeing it in new ways, perhaps through God's eyes.

Remember slides and video images are background. Don't change them too often or use distracting video, or people will watch them like TV in case they miss something. It's better to have three well-chosen images that people will find meaning in and will remember [this is different from using specific images or film clips to make a point].
Music:

Use music as background/to create atmosphere. Think in terms of a continuous film soundtrack, rather than individual songs. These can be dropped into the general musical flow. The background music provides emotional colour, fills gaps, papers over the buzz of conversation in group discussions etc. We do our readings/spoken stuff over quiet background music as well.

Be true to yourselves - you probably already know what music you would like to use in worship, but haven't dared or had the chance. So do it. You know what music means most to you, speaks to you of God, or of life, so use your own musical culture in church. Use the soundtrack of your own heart. If it's Christian music, fine, but if it isn't, that's good too. Don't categorise into sacred and secular - there's no obvious divide. We use secular stuff, and people think it's Christian because the church context changes the perceived meaning. This can be revelatory, and in turn can stunningly transform the way that the same music is heard in its usual secular context. Obviously some things aren't helpful or can't be used, use judgement as to whether something will cause needless offence or get misinterpreted; but the general intention is to bring your real self and your real world before God, rather than being 'churchy' or 'holy' [and then going home and listening to something different. God is listening there, too!]. Keep an ear out for where God is in the secular world, where real spiritual issues are being dealt with. There are some surprises to be had.

Remember worship isn't just about happy songs - there's sorrow, anger, bitterness etc to bring before God too [take a look at the psalms]. People who come to church carrying negative emotions or problems can feel alienated or excluded by upbeat joyful worship music, they need music and words that enable them to articulate their pain to God. That pain can't be healed until it has been given room for expression.
Grace music:

The next few paragraphs are about the kind of music we use in Grace services, as an example of an approach to music in worship.

We use the ambient/chilled/meditative end of contemporary dance music as general background in services. We buy this music anyway so we just keep an ear open for anything that might be of use; sometimes we find instrumental tracks that can be used as alternative backing tracks for our own worship songs. It's all secular stuff available from normal record stores. In larger record stores ambient/chill out appears as a separate category, there is a lot of this post-club background music available [for the long motorway drive home at 4am!]. Don't let the dance music categorisation put you off - it's just by an interesting quirk of social/musical development that this stuff has ended up there in the racks. 'Easy listening' might have been a better term for much of it, had it not already come to mean old swing records and schmaltzy crooners. By avoiding obvious dance beats or electronic noise it is possible to put together a worship soundtrack quite acceptable to all ages and types.

I can think of 4 categories that Grace music falls into [all fluid]:

1. Sometimes it's just that the music is good background;
2. Sometimes a track has lyrics that suggest a church use;
3. Sometimes a record has major significance for society/says something important about our world.
4. Our own and other people's worship songs.

Examples [not exhaustive]:

1. Cafe del Mar vols 1-6; the Orb; Orbital; Super Discount; Northern Exposure Expeditions; Sabres of Paradise; Two Lone Swordsmen; Air; Fila Brazilia [despite their name they're from Hull]; Real Ibiza vol. 2; anything by A Man Called Adam; Groove Armada.

2. 'Easter Song' on Cafe del Mar vol. 2; 'Resurrection Song' Cafe del Mar vol. 3; 'God is a DJ' & 'The Long Road Home' by Faithless, 'Sunday 8pm' album; 'Firestarter [Empyrion mix]' the Prodigy; 'Praise You' Fatboy Slim; 'We have all the time in the world' off 'Shaken and Stirred: the David Arnold James Bond Project'; 'Starlovers' Gusgus...etc. Whatever strikes our attention.

3. 'Inner City Life' by Goldie; 'Bittersweet Symphony' and 'The Drugs Don't Work' by the Verve; we're waiting for the next great anthem...we hoped Blur would oblige, but they haven't.

4. 'Grace' album, 'Eucharist' album; but music in this category is usually sung live over a backing track, which might be a secular instrumental track we've found that happens to fit. We often augment the backing track with [one or two] live instruments too. We don't have a worship band as such.

Playing something like 'Praise You' in church while it's at no. 1 carries a tremendous punch. It recontextualises both record and act of worship. Suddenly what we are doing in church becomes part of the real world.

[NB I guess we've all heard chart records used in church settings tokenistically as a sop to the 'young people'; it just reinforces how alien church is...But if the whole context of the service is such that use of these records becomes natural, it changes perceptions of where holy ground is in our culture...I wonder how many times Moses had passed the burning bush on his travels before he heard God speaking to him from it?]

We don't usually use hard dance stuff unless we want to hype up the atmosphere a bit or make people dance. If you wind people up in a service you then usually have to calm them down again to move on, and anyway we're a bit wary of generating hysteria in church. It can be good to make an upbeat ending, a bit of a party vibe to send people home on.

We seldom use rock as such because it doesn't fit the general musical flow of our services [does 'background/ambient rock' exist?], But some tracks are too significant to be ignored, eg 'Bittersweet Symphony' by the Verve - we built an entire ritual around it, but used a slightly funkier remix by James Lavelle that's a B-side on 'The Drugs Don't Work' single.
Basic hardware:

Music:two CD players or twin turntables that you can cross-fade between for musical continuity; we have recently bought a Minidisc player, which allows us to pre-record a lot of stuff but unlike a tape allows instant access in any order, and displays the actual track title so you don't cue the wrong one!

Video: a domestic video player, but buy a splitter so you can send the picture to several TV sets.

Several TVs [remember, for most purposes, to turn the sound off].

Several slide projectors, projecting onto muslin sheets hung [in our case] on washing lines strung up wherever in church. Fireproof the sheets first [you can buy a spray]. Hang the sheets so as to create more intimate spaces within the cavern of the church interior. Muslin is also great for covering nasty furniture and draping around things for effect.

PA system and good speakers

Live instruments if available or to suit tastes.

Lots of candles - all shapes and sizes. They create a fantastic atmosphere, rich and intense. Use plenty of small cheap nightlights, eg to form a pathway down the church for people to enter along; put them around the TVs, and around any stations or things that you have set up. Generally, the more candles the better it looks, unless you have a reason for restricting them for the theme of a particular service. Use them symbolically, eg light a triple candle while saying a trinitarian prayer.

Lighting generally should be low and intimate, so as not to drown out the slides and candles. The slides and TVs will contribute quite a bit of light themselves. Spotlight the microphones and the music desk so that people can read things. Low lighting levels also mean that people don't notice the clothes pegs holding up the drapes, or the dirty marks thereon, or the grubby old TVs. These things fade into the background, and the images and candles and things you have specifically lit dominate. The transformation from grot to grotto when the main lights are turned off can be breathtaking.

Important: this doesn¹t have to cost much. Borrow as much as you can, or buy second-hand. People may have slide projectors or slide collections at home; maybe they can borrow from work or school. Use old TVs and video recorders - when someone you know gets a new TV or video recorder, ask if you can have their old one. It doesn¹t matter what the equipment looks like, in the service people will only notice the picture on the screen. But invest money in achieving good sound quality, both spoken and musical - the ear forgives muffled or tinny sound less easily than the eye forgives faint or strangely coloured visuals!

Embracing Worship 2.0 An Architecture of Participation - Jonny Baker [church times column nov 06]

We've developed a tradition for Advent at Grace, an alternative worship community in Ealing – Nine. It's a very simple idea for a service (feel free to use it). We take the traditional nine lessons and carols framework and give it our own twist. We find nine volunteers willing to take part who are given one of the readings. They then have to choose a piece of music and do something to reflect/relate to the reading - this might be a piece of art, a ritual, a meditation, a thought, an audio-visual piece. At the service the nine readings are read from the bible and after each one the person does their piece and play their chosen piece of music. Followed of course by mulled wine and mince pies. It’s highly participative and creative. People produce amazing things. On reflection I think it might be an example of Worship 2.0 …?

There have been a spate of articles recently on the new revolution in the internet which has become known as Web 2.0. The Guardian Weekend magazine ran a 15 page feature called the Bigger Bang that interviewed several of the entrepreneurs behind these startups. In it John Lancaster said "What all these new kind of sites share is an approach to creating things: "user-created content", in the jargon. The internet is no longer about corporations telling you what to do, think or buy; it's about things people create."

So Wikipedia is an encyclopedia where the information is provided and edited by anyone rather than experts. It is constantly being added to and evolving and is astonishingly rich in information. Flickr, Youtube, and Myspace are online photo, video and music sharing sites respectively. People create and upload and give feedback on media content and then build social networks around that, some of which is virtual and some with people they already know. Technorati, Digg and Del.icio.us all work with the publishing revolution in blogging to help people collate, track, identify and share the content that is good, useful and interesting.

Whilst these sites may or may not be of interest in themselves what is significant about them is the values or ethos that is emerging. Whereas Web 1.0 was characterised by being an information source, some of the values associated with Web 2.0 are that it has an architecture of participation where community is the content, knowledge is open source and it is based around decentralized authority that values the wisdom of the crowds who are self publishing content with an incredible amount of creativity.

Steve Collins definition of alternative worship on the web site www.smallfire.org is "Alternative worship is what happens when people create worship for themselves, in a way that fully reflects who they are as people and the culture that they live their everyday lives in." A generation are growing up for whom the ethos of Web 2.0 is their world. So we should expect and celebrate Worship 2.0 – creative, highly participative, valuing community as the content, open source, low control where the expert worship leader is replaced by teams self publishing creative content.

Let me conclude by reworking John Lancaster’s quote above…
"What all these new kinds of worship share is an approach to creating things: "user-created content", in the jargon. The church is no longer about institutions telling you what to do, think or sing; it's about things people create."

Hey Man Slow Down - A Creative Journey With Worship - Jonny Baker [for CPAS leaders magazine April 06]

Welcome to a 'Grace' worship service simply entitled slow. The worship space is divided into two halves by back to back projection screens. On one side a VJ (like a DJ but mixing visual images rather than music) mixes slow images and the other fast images. People sit whichever side they relate to most. We take about 10 minutes in contemplative prayer to quiet down in God’s presence to a backdrop of ambient tunes played by a DJ. A glass jar with sand in water is shaken and placed to settle down as picture of what stilling our hearts might be like. An image of the jar is projected on the screens while we listen to Radiohead’s The Tourist with the lyric ‘hey man slow down’ projected over the image of the jar. The story of Mary and Martha is the basis for thinking about the pace of our lives and whether we are naturally more commuters or contemplatives and what pace God might be calling us to. The service has been inspired by Asian theologian, Kosuke Koyama who suggests in ‘The three Mile an Hour God’ that God’s pace is walking pace. A couple of chants are sung over chilled electronic tracks and we make prayer bracelets and use the Orthodox Jesus prayer as a way of asking for God’s mercy in our lives. In response to the service we are invited to take away a boiled sweet to suck on slowly if we want to ask God to help us slow down or a soft sweet to eat quickly if we felt the need to speed up.

It often feels that there is a choice between two basic types of worship in churches: Liturgical worship that follows a set pattern or structure in a prayer book led by professional clergy is the basic diet of mainline denominations. And blocks of singing led by a keyboard player, guitarist or worship band are the staple diet of worship in charismatic/evangelical/pentecostal churches. On the one hand, the liturgy has depth but repeated week in week out can become very dry and formulaic. But on the other hand, worship led by a band whilst it can be exciting isn’t without its problems – worship easily gets trapped into performance mode, and the range of theology in the songs is often pretty thin. It seems to suit an adolescent stage of faith which is brilliant if that’s where you are at. But when you have been a Christian for a few years, your faith is equally as real but you probably have a different set of questions and struggles. When a friend is diagnosed with cancer, raising kids is a challenge, God is distant, or life is hard this kind of worship can seem irrelevant and disconnected from everyday life. Themes that are commonplace in the hymnology of the psalms – anger, lament, disorientation, exile – just don’t seem to fit with this modern worship culture. I meet increasing numbers of adults who are struggling with this dilemma. Alternative worship (the label given to the sort of worship described above) has ploughed a third way, a way that embraces contemporary (postmodern) culture but whilst re-engaging and reframing tradition at the same time.

Grace is an alternative worship community that has been going for about 13 years. It is a congregation of St Mary's Anglican church in Ealing. Probably about half of Grace overlap in some way with other services or parts of St Mary’s and for the other half Grace is church. In an Anglican set up adding a new congregation is easy enough to do – in practice 8am, 10:30am and 6pm often have quite different flavours and attendances anyway. And there is increasing recognition that one size no longer fits all. Whilst unity in the church is important it doesn’t necessarily require us all being in the same worship service on a Sunday morning every week. The key to Grace getting started and its continuing success has been having a creative team with the vision to do something new (the team is all voluntary), and then the church leadership taking the risk of giving space for something new and trusting the Grace team. There is no doubt that Grace appeals to and reaches a very different group of people to the other congregations at St Marys.

We need a baptism of imagination about worship. It is too often predictable, uncreative and stuck in a rut. Part of what it means to image God is to be creative. We need to develop communities of worship that celebrate and invite creativity. The word liturgy actually means at its root ‘the work of the people’. In this sense rediscovering liturgy will mean that we develop worship that comes out of a worshipping community’s life rather than worship that is served up by experts or professionals. Something happens when the worship is ‘our’ worship that we have dreamed and made however raw, gritty and real it is. And the range of possibilities for worship is only limited by our imaginations – let loose the DJs, photographers, digital artists, story tellers, film makers, liturgists, painters and so on. In Grace our model of leading worship is based around the idea of curation so someone will take on the task for a service of pulling together a team of people and then work together to create a worship experience. The leader’s role isn’t to be up front and perform but to ensure that all the components come together, to see it all hangs together and to help curate the worship space. Anyone in Grace is welcome to take on this role. This model would be easily transferable to any worshipping community and a good place to start might be to take on curating a service for a festival in the church year which would easily have material to work with. I am constantly amazed by things that people produce in worship when we encourage them, give space, and let go of control. In Grace we have developed a working ethos around the words creativity, participation, risk and engagement.

I love this kind of worship. I find it connects me afresh with God and fires me up to re-engage with the real world. However it is not a new solution to be copied. The important part is not the sylistic aspects of worship – different music, video loops, and so on, i.e. another consumer choice. The real gift and challenge is for us all to get creative and contextual and grow worship that is truly the work of the people in our own communities.

Image of Christ - Steve Collins

A few years ago, before I was involved in alternative worship, I went to see a Christian musical performed by the local church drama group. After the interval, the curtains opened upon the figure of Christ on the cross, portrayed by a fortyish friend of mine in nothing more than crown of thorns and the obligatory (and probably unhistorical) loin cloth. As we gazed, slightly shocked, upon his almost naked body, flat stomach, ribs showing, I thought to myself "Good job he's still skinny enough to play Jesus" - and then it struck me. There is no evidence in Scripture to suggest that Jesus was thin at all. He might, for all we know, have been short and fat, or at least had plenty of body hair and a pot belly. After all, few men get to thirty without a little extra round the waist, especially if they are gluttons and wine-bibbers. Thing is, we've inherited a tradition of how Jesus looks, and it affects what kind of person we see him as - and therefore our relationship with him.

In fact, Jesus's earthly appearance is nowhere described in the Bible, except in mystical and symbolic terms in, for example, the Book of Revelation. One effect of what to us is a strange omission is to prevent us tying Jesus down to a particular place and time - the Incarnation becomes about Jesus in the contemporary world here and now, all heres and all nows, utterly committed and involved and refusing to be distanced or irrelevant. The trouble with all our usual images is that they remove Jesus from the contemporary world. They make him a historical figure or a sort of alien not at home in our lives. It's like having the Queen come to tea - meeting him becomes a somewhat constrained and artificial encounter with someone who is clearly not part of the world you and I live in. We don't expect him to know how to work the Playstation, let alone beat our score; or else to be floating serenely in a state of mystical purity untouched by such worldly matters. Even if we believe in him, we either unconsciously limit his relevance, or set the rest of our lives in the modern world at nought as we look forward to leaving it behind for a robes-and-sandals Kingdom - forgetting that these things were once as contemporary as combat trousers and trainers, and that in their time they conveyed the immediacy, the worldliness, of the Kingdom.

From Byzantine times through to the late medieval period, Christ as portrayed in art appeared as a contemporary figure. The robes, the hair, the beard were pretty much what normal men of those centuries wore. The Christ people saw when they looked at the pictures was a real person present in their world here and now - for the first 1400 of the last 2000 years, there was no perceived distance to travel between him and us. If people of those centuries behave as though Christ were a real and immediate presence in their world, that's partly because they had seen nothing that would open up a distance.

But in the fifteenth century the way people in general, but men in particular dressed began to shift. We've all seen a jester's outfit, parti-coloured doublet and tights with a funny hat - but in the fifteenth century this was the height of fashion, a revolutionary and one might say indecent break with with the past. From this point on men had cod-pieces - something which never found its way into the representation of Christ! This is also the first clean-shaven period since early Byzantine times about 1000 years earlier.

So at this point a gap opened up between the way Christ was normally portrayed, and the way men actually looked in the contemporary world. But the issue doesn't seem to have been addressed, and I think the reason is because this is the period of the Renaissance. And the Renaissance rediscovered the culture of the ancient world and aspired to it as superior. We enter a period in which it was normal to portray rulers and aristocrats as Roman emperors, when high culture liked to dress up in the clothes of ancient Rome. And so no-one was interested in portraying Jesus in contemporary fashions - indeed, both his divinity and his perfect humanity were expressed by giving him the muscular, hairless body of a Greek god or hero. Not to mention the scanty draperies, which would have got funny looks in Elizabethan London.

And when the cultural authority of ancient art began to fade in the 19th century, it was replaced by another nostalgic longing, for an idealised medieval world. We get Holman Hunt's 'Light of the World', and the Pre-Raphaelite Jesus of Sunday school fame. And nothing came along to replace that, because when art turned away from the past to embrace the modern world, it didn't want to take Christianity with it. And those artists that did portray Christ tended to use him as a way of engaging with tradition and the past. The image of Jesus was left frozen, timewarped, after 500 years of being constantly turned back away from the contemporary world into an idealised past.

Now, in the year 2000, we find ourselves looking at a Christ who seems alien to us, from another time and place. This makes it easy to believe that he should be left there, with all the other cultural baggage we claim to have outgrown. Our problem is thrown into sharp relief by the way other twentieth-century cultures have reimagined Christ in their own image, to claim his identification with them right here and now. We in the West have hesitated between reimaging Christ as one of us, and clinging on to the historical tradition of representation we have inherited. This leads to those strange cheesy baby-boomer Jesuses, or to Che Guevara - we leap at the chance the return of beards and long hair, and even sandals, have given us to have it both ways - we can say "Look - Jesus is just like us" and have the tradition, too. It's actually dodging the issue. Can we really portray Jesus as 'one of us' again, when that means abandoning the tradition - or are we stuck with the first century Jew or medieval holy man? Is Jesus going to be for us a historical figure we have to keep bringing forward in time, or an eternal figure at home in all times? To go back to where I started, if what we are given in the Bible is the character and nature of Jesus, not his appearance, how do we reimage that character in our own world, in a way that's truthful not nostalgic?

Steve Collins April 2000

Labyrinths - Jonny Baker [column for church times june 06]

LABYRINTHS have made something of a comeback in the past decade. A labyrinth is not a maze: there is one path to follow, not a choice of turns. Labyrinths have been in the Christian tradition for many centuries.

The most famous labyrinths are found in cathedrals in northern France. The one at Chartres is stunning in design and setting, and is now a place of pilgrimage from all round the world; but for many years it lay forgotten under chairs, like a buried treasure. It took someone with imagination to uncover it and to enliven the tradition of labyrinth-walking again.

Walking a labyrinth can be done in many ways, but it is essentially a prayer meditation. There are three stages to the journey: in towards the centre, which is often a time for stilling and shedding; being at the centre — a space to be with God; and the journey out, taking the encounter with God back into the world.

In a busy life, walking a labyrinth really forces you to slow down and pray.

A number of alternative-worship communities have reinvented the labyrinth for post-modern spiritual seekers and tourists. This was done by adding a series of stations to the journey. The walker listens to a set of meditations on headphones at each stopping-point, sometimes having interactive rituals to perform. A labyrinth was installed at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2000, and at Greenbelt later the same year.

The response was overwhelming. It has now been set up and walked in thousands of churches round the world, and published in several countries and languages. There is even a digital version online, which is good fun.

There are several things about laby-rinths that catch the moment: the resurgence of interest in contemplative spirituality; the idea of faith as a journey; the notion of creating a navigable space where worshippers and God meet, rather than performing at the front of a congregation; the rediscovery of an ancient treasure and reframing it in the Christian tradition; linking imaginatively with contemporary culture; and the popularity in using art installations for worship.

Grace, an alternative-worship community, is mowing two labyrinths in grass this month — one to celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit, in Ealing, and one for A Rocha at the Minet Park festival in Southhall, to introduce labyrinths to spiritual seekers there. The inspiration for these has come from the mown grass labyrinth at Greenbelt last year, and the one at Burford Priory.

Greenbelt has had various takes on the labyrinth in the past decade. This year there will be a labyrinth based on the Chartres pattern, run by a group from Scotland. For newcomers to the idea, it’s a good place to take the first step.

Preaching - Throwing A Hand Grenade In The Fruit Bowl - Jonny Baker

This article was originally submitted as a chapter for a book on preaching. However I am proud to say that it was deemed unworthy of publication! So here it is. Click on the link below to download it as a pdf document.

preaching pdf

Remaking Tradition - Jonny Baker [church times column sept 06]

IN A post-modern culture, tradition and continuity are a gift. At a time when culture seems to be changing fast, to be able to be located in a tradition that has been passed down for 2000 years gives a real sense of "weight" - a much needed anchor point in the world.

Part of the process of carrying a tradition forward is struggling with it, and engaging in its debates as to how its enquiries can be carried forward. This is what Greenbelt is all about. To keep reforming Christian tradition in a prophetic spirit is to be faithful. To deny it is to disallow that subversive and dangerous memory of Jesus.

Grace is an alternative-worship community in Ealing, a congregation of St Mary's Church, and has been going for more than a decade. Alternative worship likes to work with the traditions and liturgies of the Church, often in creative and playful ways. Communion by Numbers re-presents the eucharist in the context of a meal, which is, of course, where it started, at the Last Supper. Tables are set out in a café style, and groups of six to eight people gather round each table. Music is playing, and the service takes place at the tables.

On each table is a series of numbered envelopes. When a bell rings, someone at the table opens the first envelope, and follows the instructions contained in it. This is repeated, so that progress is made through the numbered envelopes in order. The envelopes correspond to the main elements of a communion service: preparation, thanksgiving, confession, the word, prayer, sharing the Peace, preparing the table, eucharistic prayer, sharing bread and wine, thanksgiving, and blessing.

This may mean, for example, that the word is a Bible passage that is read at the table and then discussed; sharing the Peace could be done by a toast with the glasses round the table; the eucharistic prayer could be prayed, and then bread and wine shared at the tables; the blessing could be accompanied by passing round hot towels from a curry house, and so on.

One of the playful elements in the service is a "text confession", where people are invited to text a confession on their mobile phone to a given number. An automated service sends some words of absolution in reply.

When Grace first held this service, the absolutions experienced a delay. Rather than appearing immediately, they arrived during the eucharistic prayer. Phones started to bleep, and displayed the words "You are forgiven." It was perfect timing.

Preserving tradition is done by driving to the heart of it to understand its significance, and then by doing our best to represent it in our own context. In this sense, Communion by Numbers is traditional worship: it takes the tradition seriously, re-examining the sharing of bread and wine among friends gathered around a table, and reframes it in a contemporary context. The next time someone attends communion at their own church, the experience of Communion by Numbers may well reinvest communion with meaning for them in new and different ways.

Ruptures, Improvisation And Tradition - Jonny Baker [for Alove Salvation Army Magazine 06]

Every so often a tradition experiences a rupture. I am thinking about the early days of hip hop in relation to music. DJs started playing a break in one track and then mixing it in to a break in another (or even a second copy of the same track) to keep the beat going, over which people would 'break' dance and rap. Shortly after, the advent of sampling then changed everything - you could sample a piece of music, a drum beat, a snatch of vocal and loop it or mix it in with other samples to create new tracks. This was a whole new approach, a creative bricolage, that challenged the traditions of music making at the time. Some people said it wasn't authentic, but rather stealing other peoples’ music. James Brown was one of the most sampled. He is referred to in the tune 'Talkin all that jazz' by Stetsasonic where they have this killer line: 'Tell the truth, James Brown was old ‘til Eric and Rakim came out with "I Got Soul" '. In other words he should be thanking the hip hop culture for giving him a new lease of life rather than complaining. In many ways sampling brought the archives alive to a whole new generation.

Hip hop has a strong association with Jazz, and indeed could be said to be carrying forward its traditions. Jazz was very much the music of the underground dance halls and clubs - its creative improvised format liberated it from the music that had gone before. In the hip hop tune ‘Jazz Thing’ Guru cites a list of the jazz greats and concludes "this music ain't dead, so don't be misled by those who said that jazz was on its deathbed... The nineties will be a decade of a jazz thing. I love jazz music". This track is hip hop - its beats and samples and rapping - and yet it is also jazz and seeks to locate itself in the tradition of jazz. Its jazz retains 'a new format'. The tradition ends up being renewed and carried forward rather than remaining stuck.

What's this got to do with youth ministry? Everything! Most of us involved in youth ministry have to wrestle with how to deal with our traditions. Tradition is an amazing gift. Without the heroes who have gone before, we wouldn’t be doing ministry. But it can also get stuck and need renewing. Just like the traditions of music we need creative visionaries who risk rupture and reclaim our traditions in new ways to carry them forward.

In New Testament and The People of God, Tom Wright introduces the notion of “faithful improvisation” by using the example of discovering one of Shakespeare’s lost plays, but lacking a scene in the fifth and final act. He suggests what would be necessary for that play to come to life would be a trained group of Shakespearean actors to improvise the missing scene. These actors wouldn’t simply wing it, but rather, they would immerse themselves in the first four acts and the other plays of Shakespeare. They would then act out their parts, striving to be faithful to the developing plot and character portrayals. Wright suggests as Christians, we have a script consisting of four parts – creation, the fall, Israel, and Jesus and the church. The fifth and final act is the church’s ongoing improvisation of the developing story. He says that we, as Jesus’ actors, are called to inhabit the world of the Bible and then act out that worldview for a new day.

Faithful improvisation frees us from the tradition, but it does not free us to do whatever we want. In order to improvise we must know the author, our God, the history of the church, the scriptures, and other improvisations of the church. The better we know the tradition, the more knowledge we can draw on to revise it. Jesus was more faithful to the tradition (i.e. the law) by getting to the heart of it rather than getting caught up in the trappings. The Spirit calls us to join in with what God is doing in the world and to improvise.

One of ALOVE’s essentials is Mission – “Going into the world to find Jesus and point him out”. We need to do this, not by simply abandoning all tradition, but investing in loyal radicals in our youth groups to help them, and the church, reinvent itself. With faithful improvisers, Christianity won’t be ‘on its deathbed’ or the preserve of old guys in lounge suits saying ‘nice’.

spectator article

the spectator had a piece on the last grace which was something of a surprise to us but it's a warm and positive piece in a journalist detached kind of way!

it's online here - in search of disorganised religion

Using Images in Worship - Jonny Baker

A lot of groups are reimagining worship. Part of the journey for most involves experimenting with a variety of expressions of worship - new music, liturgy, prayers, ritual, and using images and symbols. The culture we inhabit is image-based. The use of images is intuitive, natural and authentic for those that have grown up in this culture. It is also helpful in mission because it's a language and form that many outside the church relate to more readily than a culture dominated by words. Evangelicals have not got much of a history of using images in worship so there's little tradition to draw on (unlike the Orthodox and Catholic traditions). It takes some experimenting to get a feel for the language, to find what works and what doesn't.
Imagination

The key to getting going is imagination. A lot of people don't try anything new or different because they don't think they are creative. We all are. Once you get going the ideas come thick and fast. The first step feels the riskiest and hardest. Others think they haven't got the expertise - you don't need it. Still others think they can't afford it on their budget. You can do a lot for next to nothing with a bit of imagination.
Sparking ideas, not prescriptive

The idea behind these notes is to help you get started. A lot of people need some encouragement taking that first step. It can be very helpful going and meeting with and seeing what other groups are doing as a spark to the imagination. However these notes are not meant to be prescriptive. There isn't one way to do these things. One of the exciting things in worship at the moment is the amount of creativity being rediscovered. Similarly when you see what another group are doing, use some of the ideas but don't just copy. Find your own voice, your own language, your own expression of worship to God.
Choice of images

There is a large element of experimenting with what is appropriate and works in worship. A helpful starting point is remembering it's worship so the images should enhance the worship. This may seem obvious but sometimes people can get so excited about the images they are using that the focus can be all about how wonderful the latest images are rather than them being an inspiration for worship or a pointer to God. It is important to keep some kind of dialogue going within the group about what the images are saying for them and if they are helpful or not. Then the group can learn the language together, what works and what doesn't. It's a way of helping people find out how others are using the images to enhance their own worship, which in turn may help them.

The issue of quality is a difficult one. There is a balance between wanting everyone to get involved and express worship in different ways and wanting to use good quality art etc. You just have to feel your way with this but encourage people not to go in for things that are naff. A good rule of thumb is to think how friends outside the church would react to the images.

The most difficult area to use in terms of appropriateness is video. In part this is because the images are moving rather than still and so can easily become too much of a focus, particularly if they are on a big screen. You don't want to create a cinema! Also video is a very powerful form - it's important not to abuse this power just for effect. We've all experieneced being bombarded with images on the news of refugees for example. It's too easy for this kind of image if overdone or used inappropriately to desensitise people to issues of justice.

One approach to using video is to have the images focused around one idea or theme. For example during a service about Pentecost having flickering flames for 10 minutes, or images of water droplets during a prayer of confession. This way the images enhance the worship rather than become the focus. Another approach is to use more complicated sequences that might be more of a focus for a meditation or prayer.

Sensitivity and appropriateness are important, but you learn them as you go. It is worth looking out for those in the group for whom this is their thing and who seem to have a good grasp of it. overhead projectors

A lot of churches use these for song words and nothing else. Here are some ideas to try:

* Get some coloured lighting gels (coloured acetate) and lay that over the words.
* Design some images on computer, print them out. Get them colour copied onto acetate.
* Get some of the group to write graffiti/paint pictures and colour photocopy them onto acetate.
* Colour photocopy any appropriate image e.g. icons, Celtic cross, creation......
* Rather than use the usual screen, hang a sheet up, or get hold of a roll of muslin and hang a series of strips up and project onto that, or get hold of an old parachute and project onto that.
* Try projecting from behind rather than in front (simply reverse the image).
* Use more than one OHP - borrow them. Hang screens at different points in the room to get away from the front being the only focal point.

Art

Have someone paint a picture during the worship service on the theme. Ideally this is best done by someone who is an experienced artist and can prepare the picture beforehand. Have paints/paper/clay available for people to draw/paint/model during the worship, then take photos of what has been produced and use it another time on slide. Or hang the pictures around the place. It's worth bearing in mind that a lot of people will need encouraging to try this kind of thing. Also the process of expressing something is as important as the end product. Encourage those with artistic gifts to produce stuff in advance either to have as sculpture, paintings, or to photograph and use on slide.

Slides

Borrow projectors - as many as possible! Often members of churches have them and never or rarely use them. They are very happy to loan them. Borrow slides. Lots of people have slides that sit in the cupboard and don't get used. Be sure to mark them clearly and look after them. Take slides. Borrow a camera. Get some people taking slides on a theme. Use shots of creation, elemental stuff (e.g. water, fire), stained glass windows, icons, abstracts, bread and wine, ..... Purchase slides. Cathedrals and art galleries often have collections of slides. With several projectors you can project images at various places in the room. Use sheets, muslin or a parachute.... You can project onto walls or the ceiling. It's a good effect with muslin to not just have a flat surface. Try creating some depth and layers. Try projecting from behind. Your imagination is the limit.

Words projected on slide look great if you can produce them. If you can get white words with a black background you can project them over an image from another slide projector or video projector. There are different ways to do this. Ask around - there may well be someone you know who could do this at work. One way is to print out laser copies on A4 of the words you want, photograph them and use the film negatives (which will be white on black). Chop them up and put them into slide frames. (You can buy a box of 100 for about £5 from a photo shop). Another way is to create a template on a computer of an A4 sheet with say 32 boxes the size of slides. Write the words into the boxes and take either the disc or a printed copy to a printer and ask for the sheet to be printed on negative film. You then get your white on black and chop them up and put them in slide frames.
Video

You obviously need at least a video player and a television. If your church has not got one, use yours or borrow one. A simple but good effect is to use two televisions. To do this you need a splitter. This plugs into the video player and gives you two outputs for the televisions. With long leads work out where to place these - away from the front is helpful so that it doesn't feel as though we are gathered to watch television. For larger scale events you can use a video projector. They are straightforward to use. Several schools, councils, youth agencies have them that you can hire. Project them onto any flat surface e.g. sheet. You can get a special screen which is helpful for back projection, but a sheet is pretty good. There are other bits and pieces e.g.. vision mixers that some people use but these are a luxury.

As with slides and OHPs build up a collection of images. Start small i.e. one image you want to use. You don't have to have video running all the time. Video material can be got from a variety of sources:

Off the shelf videos:

The 'Images for worship' series has been made specifically for use in worship. It is set out in a series of tracks on particular themes - e.g. 'Spirit', 'people' or 'environment'.

HMV have plenty of rave/fractal type videos that are good for creating a certain kind of vibe. There are computer graphic videos - the downside of these is that the images are a bit cold/clinical which isn't brilliant for worship - organic ones are a lot more 'real'.

Creation images (eg National Geographic). Lots of people have used images from the film 'Koyanasqaatsi'. Hunt around and ask around and you can find stuff.

Filmed programmes from the television - wildlife, news, documentaries,....etc

One of the difficulties can be finding a clip but it being too short. With two video players and the appropriate lead it is possible to compile a longer sequence using record and pause buttons.

Make your own:

Most people can get access to a camcorder at least. Try making some of your own images e.g.. candle burning, people, water, traffic.....

With a small bit of investment you can get a text writer to put words onto video. This can be very effective, particularly if it is a slow sequence of one or two words at a time that connect with a theme e.g. at Pentecost, different words for the Spirit - fire, wind, breath, dove, dangerous friend etc. If you can't afford this, write them and use a camcorder, or create the sequence on computer and film the computer.
Computers

It is possible to link a computer up to televisions or projectors and run everything from there. However this is more specialised and requires more software etc. If you are interested in that get some advice from a computer shop or someone who is doing it. (Often at larger events e.g. Spring Harvest, Brainstormers this technology is used).
Copyright

Copyright is a big issue. It would require a whole other set of notes to go into it in detail. If you are producing your own stuff you are fine. Other than that you need to check it out.
Outro

The overall setting for worship is very important. Things like lighting and layout affect the mood a lot so it's worth thinking everything through. The main goal is enabling people to worship in ways and forms that they can relate to. These notes have focused on image use. But ritual, poetry, liturgy, prayers, readings, scripture, meditations, poems, stories, songs, tracks are all other ways of expressing worship. Worship doesn't have to be technologically slick, it's whether it is real or not that counts.

visitors impressions...

at grace we have many visitors - it's part of having a web site that's half decent, living in london and being around a while i guess? anyway hospitality is something we have embraced and regularly meet and share ideas and our story with other groups. here's the account of a visit last summer - grace

Worship A Route To Discovering Lost Wonder - Jonny Baker [for SU in 06]

A few years ago in Grace, the alternative worship community I am part of we ran a worship experience reflecting on the theme of wonder. We had a big graffiti wall with the word ‘WOW’ painted on it in pop art style (like Lichtenstein’s famous POW! painting). We then invited people to come and graffiti on the wall things that made them go wow, that gave them that sense of awe. People have those moments in all sorts of situations - watching the sunset, in the warmth of an embrace, witnessing the birth of a child, staring up at the sky on a starry night, visiting an art gallery, being at a gig, realising the enormity of what God has done for us in Christ, walking a labyrinth. We then got people to reflect on things that robbed them of that sense of wonder. For each one they would write a post it note and stick it on a brick that was placed in front of the wow graffiti. After a while the wall gradually blocked out the wow (If you do this make sure you build a wall that is safe and sit people at a reasonable distance from it – we actually used a set of sponge bricks from a theatre set). This became a physical picture of how things like busyness, homework, lack of time, or the struggle of relationships dulled peoples sense of wonder. The service then turned to focus what God has done for us – given us the gift of creation, come that we might have life, sent Christ to restore our broken relationships (and in fact the whole creation) – we read the verse from Ephesians 2 that describes Christ tearing down the wall of hostility and celebrated this under the idea of ‘restoring lost wonder’ by tearing down the wall we had built whilst playing a loud music track to reveal the wow that had been hidden from sight.

Douglas Coupland who so often captures the zeitgeist has a fantastic quote in his book ‘Life After God’ where he says ‘Sometimes the people I feel saddest for are those who once knew what profoundness was but who lost or became numb to the sensation of wonder’. Worship is one fantastic way to help young people rediscover that lost wonder.

Restoring the wow can be about very small things. Involve young people in the creating of worship so that they own it. We had two teenagers recently perform a track they had written along with VJing some visuals they had put together – it was amazing. Creating it definitely gave them a wow. Take worship out of its usual setting. Why not worship outside – looking at a starry sky, or on the beach, or at an art gallery? Involve all the senses – we set up five stations in a service – one for each of the senses – for people to become aware of them and thank God for the gift of life in all its richness. Move worship beyond singing – there are so many diverse ways we can express ourselves. Find something dry in your tradition and dream a way to make it live again. Use the things of everyday life as the building blocks for worship so that young people are enabled to encounter God in the everyday and ordinary things of life.

Youth is a stage of life characterised by passion. Sadly the opposite can sometimes be said of church. Older generations in church are afraid of the passion of youth and sometimes seem to prefer worship to be predictable, safe or routine. Kenda Creasy Dean had just published what I think is the best book on youth ministry for quite some time ‘Practising Passion: Youth and the Quest For A Passionate Church’ where she advocates developing a curriculum of passion which re-engages with the ancient practises of the church as a way of enabling young people to be transformed by experiencing the Passion of God. One of those practises is worship.

Worship Outside (In) The Box - Jonny Baker [church times column jan 07]

Last year one of my favourite contemporary art installations was The Bridge by Michael Cross at Dilston Grove in Bermondsey. The artist had constructed a pool inside the old chapel and designed a series of steps so that visitors could walk on water. The water had been blackened with dye so it looked pretty mysterious. When you stood on the first step the weight of your body as you leaned forward caused the next step to appear from under the water. It was quite a slow process, designed to be meditative and step by step you walked across the water. That experience still lives with me and when I have faced decisions requiring a step of faith I have pictured that moment.

Lots of alternative worship groups have drawn inspiration from art installations and have created interactive experiences as part of worship. These might be stations in a service or something on a grander scale. Greenbelt being an arts festival has hosted some wonderful worship art installations over the years. To much amusement at an ideas session for last year’s festival someone suggested doing ‘shed worship’. As far as I know that’s a new concept! But a few months later and lo and behold a few groups rose to the challenge of creating a worship experience with a shed that would be placed outside on site. My favourite one never took place because of health and safety – “the Scape Shed”. People were to be invited to write things on pieces of paper that they wanted rid of in their lives and post them through holes. Then at the end of the weekend the shed would be ceremoniously burned! At the festival there was a poetry shed, a graffiti shed and a shed obscura (a shed turned into a pin hole camera as a reflection on the upside down kingdom).

A mission challenge is how to take spirituality that resonates with contemporary culture and do it out in public spaces rather than inside church walls. In New Zealand, Opawa Baptist Church did precisely this last month taking the Christmas story to find a home outside the church and in the marketplace of Christchurch. Under the creative leadership of Peter and Joyce Majendie eight 20ft long containers were designed, created, wrapped and delivered to parts of the city to be unwrapped. Steve Taylor, the pastor describes it -

“Each had Scripture written on them by a local artist to provide context for the Christmas story. We had people comment "wow that's the largest I have ever seen the Bible written in the city". We had to call the police when 10 drunk santa's invaded one station. There was quite a contrast between the local cathedral who celebrated Christmas by erecting a giant Christmas tree outside with the names of all their commercial sponsors and our container about 20 feet away with planets in motion and a baby crying and people invited to make a star out of wire. About 15,000 people visited the containers. It was brilliant to watch people walk out of a station and say "that changed me" and to have over 200 church volunteers spending time in the city, engaging with people and it's rhythms.”

It sounds a fabulous way to take worship outside the box (and in to other ones!).

images

Images and visuals play a big part in Grace worship. We've always made flyers to promote grace that have always included strong images. In our services we try to engage all the senses so include visual images as videos, slides, animation, icons, sculpture and installtions.

Explore some of the images we've used in our galleries and in the pages in this section.

liturgy

A collection of some the pieces we have written and used as liturgy in Grace services.

And then the silence was broken...

“Zechariah, do not be afraid; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will have a son, and you are to call him John. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

“Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Broken Blessing

May we be blessed.
As we look to the year ahead, and the year gone by.
As we return to our schools and workplaces and find New rocks and New brambles.
May you be blessed as you engage with others,
as you find the time to participate and give others the chance to do the same.
May you have the courage to create and take risks,
and may you find your rest in God.

May you be blessed, as you show your weaknesses and accept God's Grace.
May others see that you are fragile that they might join in your fragility.
May our broken edges fit together to become one body.
As Christ kept the holes in his hands and feet having rose from the dead,
may we keep our wounds even after we have healed.
May you be blessed as you are healed by Christ's own wounds.
May you become broken in order to become whole.
May you become whole by knowing you are broken.

May you remember your wounds and embrace your hurt.
May you go into the places that scare you.
May you deal with anger and with sadness
And may God be with you all the way.

May you be blessed, that you are perfect in your imperfections -
as you are forgiven, but never forgotten.
May you be blessed, as you are accepted as you are.
As you are broken.
As you are wounded.
As you are hurt.
As you are loved.
Amen.

[this blessing was improvised - i.e. written down in response to the liturgies and prayers of the evening]

Call to worship - from the even greater silence Dec 09

Welcome to worship

Make yourself at home

Relax your tense shoulders; shake out your tired arms; rotate your stiff ankles

Breathe deeply; breathe deeper still

Let your thoughts settle in this place; be fully present here

Look around at your companions; we have come to worship together

And everyone is welcome here with all that you carry
So bring your struggle and your success
your joy and your fear
your faith and your doubt
your culture
your sensuality
your whole self

We are here to soak in the presence of God
We are here to listen to the word of God
We are here to be filled with the Spirit of God
We are here to worship

confession

'confession' was written as a prayer for the grace service at reimagining worship in hackney. The service was about the senses, and this prayer about the misuse of the senses. we had linked images, eg advertisements, up whilst it was read.

white lines

blowing through my mind

and all the while i think of you

you said

hello boys are you pleased to see me?

we said

lord, when did we see you naked

and not rewind the video

you said

some people bleed internally

for lack of anyone to touch them

and pronounce them clean

we said

some people are just asking for it

you said

it's a lovely day

come outside and smell the flowers

we said

there was a drunk on the train tonight

we could hardly breathe

don't these people ever wash?

you said

hey baby

we could make beautiful music together

you said

you could at least phone

we said

we're sorry there's no-one here to receive your call at present

please leave your name and telephone number

and we will get back to you as soon as possible

you said

if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off

If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out

with the remaining hand

because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop

you said

take, eat - this is my body

drink it all of you - this is my blood

we said

this product will only aid weight loss

as part of a calorie-controlled diet

you said

the eye cannot say to the hand "i don't need you"

or how are you going to reach out?

you said

the head cannot say to the feet "i don't need you"

or how are you going to dance?

we said

we are the body of christ

but it's not quite nice to talk about bodies

especially in church

if you wanted us to be holy

why did you invent sex?

you said

i gave up my body

to murder and resurrection

to put all this mess right

i can start changing things right now, if you want

we said

yes please

Do you turn to Christ?

Grace Participate - Do You Turn To Christ?

Let's all gather in close around the table...

We have been exploring the ethos of grace over the last few weeks -
creativity - we love being creative
participation - grace is not something to consume but to get involved in
and engagement - the spirit gives us an outward impulse to engage in mission life, the world, culture and in our local communities.

If you are involved in grace we hope you won't be able to help being creative, involved and engaged - these things will rub off on us all. Or else thy are just empty words.

We began the first service dramatically smashing a mirror and plates to suggest that as God beckons us into the future there may be things that we need to let go of in order to move on. Well here we are. We have explored our values and this is it. We stand on the threshold of the future. God is beckoning us into the future.

We are changing the way we do things and the future is up for shaping. The basic structure is in place on these postcards. Take some if you haven't had them already. At the heart of the change is the opportunity for more involvement and to create space for things other than creating worship. So if you have ideas, passions, interests, mission ideas then get one or two others with you and make them happen.

I have put a few symbolic items on the table.

Bread is the body of christ - this isn't consecrated. but as we move from here i invite you to eat bread as a symbol of your participation in the life of God and God's kingdom.

The cross is the symbol of christ's passion - his self giving love. to follow in the way of christ is to live a passion-ate life. Christ is re-inviting us to be passion-ate, to follow in the way of self giving love. I'm going to pass the cross around - hold it and in your heart recommit to the way of the cross, the way of passion, the way of self giving love.

The candle is the light of the world - Christ has ignited a spark or a fire in us, i invite you to take a candle and light it as a sign that you recommit to being a godbearer, to carry God's light into the world.

We have this nice inward facing circle. This is part of our grace problem. We seem close to God when we are facing inwards. We have fallen for the trap of thinking God is in here. But God is out there. A Great Reversal needs to take place. When we talked about our ethos, one word kept coming up that never made it in to the three but perhaps undergirds them all - risk. Following God is a risk. So finally I'm going to ask you a simple question from the baptism service 'do you turn to Christ?'. As I do respond 'I do' if you'd like to. And as you do turn and face outwards. Then stay for a minute or two in silence facing outwards asking God to lead you and us into the future

Do you turn to Christ? I do

Doors liturgy [3]

Doors [3] - New Year 06

We will not allow our gifts and talents to be hidden
WE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM THROUGH THE DOOR MARKED "CREATE".

We will encourage all to contribute. Our ideas are a gift offered to God
WE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM THROUGH THE DOOR MARKED "PARTICIPATE".

We will be hospitable and supportive to one another, to visitors and to the wider church. We will engage with everyday life and connect with culture:
WE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM THROUGH THE DOOR MARKED "ENGAGE".

We will not be afraid to fail but will push at our boundaries and try new things:
WE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM THROUGH THE DOOR MARKED "RISK".

WE WILL GO THROUGH THESE DOORS IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT, KNOWING THAT JESUS HAS GONE THROUGH THEM ALL FIRST.

Ethos confession

When our thoughtless criticism stifles the creativity of others,
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy

When we keep a tight hold on power and deny others the chance to participate.
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

When we prefer the safety of our holy huddle to the wideness of God’s world.
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

When we decline to take risks for fear that we might fail.
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy

But when we praise the gifts of others,
share the power that we are given,
engage with communities beyond the boundaries of our comfort,
and risk everything we have for the sake of others,
then, God rejoices in us.

Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
Have mercy upon us,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
confirm and strengthen us is all goodness,
and keep us in life eternal,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

eucharist@greenbelt99

Text from the order of service for the 1999 Greenbelt communion service.

Before the service begins there will be a chance to learn the new songs in the service.

Words in bold are spoken or sung by all. Words in light are spoken or sung by the leaders.

welcome and opening sentences

Welcome to our worship, we're celebrating the eucharist.

God the creator is a gracious, abundant and generous host.

You are invited to be guests at his table

Grace and peace to you from him who was and is and is to come

and from the seven spirits before his throne

and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness

the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth

On the Lord's day I was in the Spirit

and there before me was a door standing open in heaven

and a voice like a trumpet said

'Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this'

opening prayer

Eternal God,

fling open the doors of our hearts

to the weather of your Spirit.

Lead us out beneath the dancing sky and wind

across the stumbling ground of our reality

to where the sound of worship never ceases

and the view stretches further than the human eye can see.

Through Christ the faithful witness,

Amen

Relax

God is here

There will be some space and quiet music to prepare our hearts for worship.

praise

Angel

Seven golden lamps are shining ANGEL

Where the Son of Man goes walking ANGEL

Calling out for us to hear him ANGEL

Calling out to seven churches ANGEL

Sing praise to Christ our God

Sing praise to Christ our God

Sing praise to Christ our God

Sing praise to Christ our God

Eyes that burn like fire flying ANGEL

Words that sound like rushing rivers ANGEL

In his hands are seven bright stars ANGEL

In his face the sun is shining ANGEL

I am Alpha and Omega ANGEL

I was crucified and broken ANGEL

Now I am alive forever ANGEL

Death can never stop my living ANGEL

Do you understand the mystery ANGEL

What is now and what will happen ANGEL

Seven stars are seven angels ANGEL

Seven lamps are seven churches ANGEL

Holy holy holy

Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee

Holy holy holy, Merciful and mighty

God in three persons, blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy, all the saints adore thee

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee

Who were and are and evermore shall be

Holy holy holy, though the darkness hide thee

Though the sinful human eye thy glory may not see

Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee

Perfect in power, in love and purity

Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty

All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea

Holy holy holy, merciful and mighty

God in three persons, blessed Trinity

(Reginald Herber 1783-1826, tune John Bacchus Dykes 1823-76)

confession

Please sit or kneel.

After each section the following Kyrie is sung:

Kyrie eleison

Christe eleison

Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy

gloria

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God in the highest

God's peace on the earth

God's peace on the earth

Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father

We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory

Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father

We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory

Lord Jesus Christ only Son of God

Lord Jesus Christ only Son of God

Lord God lamb of God

Lord God lamb of God

You take away the sin of the world - have mercy on us all

You sit at God's right hand on high - receive our prayer today

You take away the sin of the world - have mercy on us all

You sit at God's right hand on high - receive our prayer today

For you alone are the holy one

For you alone are the holy one

You are the only Lord

You are the only Lord

You alone are God most high - you are Jesus Christ

You are with the Holy Spirit in the Father's glory

You alone are God most high - you are Jesus Christ

You are with the Holy Spirit in the Father's glory

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God in the highest

Amen Alleluia

Amen Alleluia

readings:

Revelation 21:1-8, Isaiah 25:6-9

address

creed

We believe in God the Father Almighty

We believe that he made the earth and heavens

We believe in Jesus born of a woman

We believe that he is the Son of God

We believe

We believe We believe We believe We believe We believe

We believe We believe We believe We believe We believe

We believe in Jesus teacher and healer

We believe that his life was poor and simple

We believe he died betrayed and rejected

We believe that he fought the power of evil

We believe the holy life giving Spirit

Is a gift of the Son and Father to us

We believe the three are one and united

We believe in his healing and forgiveness

We believe that Jesus died and was buried

We believe that he rose to life again

We believe that he was taken to heaven

We believe that he reigns at God's right hand

We believe that he will come back in glory

We believe he will judge the dead and living

We believe the resurrection of body

We believe in the life that's everlasting

gospel: storytelling of the last supper

from 'The Book of God' by Walter Wangerin

eucharistic prayer

The Lord is here

God¹s Spirit is with us

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to God

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give God thanks and praise

O Lord our God, sustainer of the universe,

at your command all things came to be:

the vast expanse of interstellar space;

galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses,

and this fragile earth, our island home.

By your will they were created and have their being.

Redeemer God, word become flesh,

we remember you in bread and wine;

your body, your blood,

broken so we with all creation may be made perfect.

Through your sacrifice death is nulled.

Through your resurrection we have a future.

Thankyou

Therefore with angels and animals,

microbes and mountains,

and all that lives for you

we proclaim how wonderful you are,

we pour out our thanks to you

in song that never sleeps:

Holy holy holy lord

Holy holy holy lord

God of power and might

God of power and might

Heaven and earth are full of your glory

Heaven and earth are full of your glory

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna in the highest

And now we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit

this bread and wine may be to us Christ's body and his blood;

who, on the night that he was handed over to suffering and death,

took bread, thanked you and broke it

He gave it to his friends saying

'Eat this, it is my body given for you. Do this in memory of me.'

Later after supper he took the cup,

thanked you, and gave it to them saying

'Drink this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant

which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this whenever you drink it in memory of me.'

Christ has died, Christ is risen

Christ has died, Christ is risen

Christ will come again

Christ will come again

In this place where heaven and earth meet

under the rainbow of God's promise,

in this sharing of bread and wine

future hope becomes reality now

So bring your scorched earth

bring your harvest

bring your open sky

bring your restless guilty waters

bring your swift unbending road

bring your urgent inner city

to the table where your host says

'I make all things new'

Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world

Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world

Have mercy, mercy on us

Have mercy, mercy on us

bread and wine are shared

One person in each group stands to get bread and wine.

Bread and wine is shared in groups.

I will receive you now

Come and be here

Steal past my fears

O wounded healer

O humble leader

Show me your hands

Show me your side

O holy victim

O crucified

I will receive you now

I will receive your love

I will believe in you

I will go on with you

Speak to my heart

Bring me your peace

O broken Saviour

O gentle fighter

Breathe on my face

The breath of life

O my Christ let me

Share in your life

Bring to my lips now

Your blood and body

O bread of heaven

O hope of glory

Send me in love

Into the world

O faithful teacher

Wisdom of God

after-communion prayer

All-saving God,

Thank you for feeding us with the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ

whose death and resurrection have purchased the future healing of all things

We who have tasted the coming Kingdom

offer ourselves as its bearers and signs in the power of your Spirit

and as lovers and guardians of all that you have made

until you come

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

intercession

Prayers led by Christian Aid with a particular focus on Jubilee 2000

Breastplate

I bind unto myself today

The strong name of the trinity

By invocation of the same

The three in one and one in three

I bind unto myself today

The great love of the living word

The wisdom of my God to teach

His hand to guide his shield to ward

I bind unto myself today

The virtues of the starlit heaven

The glorious sun's life giving ray

The fruits of earth so freely given

I bind unto myself today

The power of God to hold and lead

His eye to watch his might to stay

His ear to hearken to my need

I bind unto myself today

The way of Christ in life and death

The call of God to jubilee

In broken chains and cancelled debt

I bind unto myself today

The strong name of the trinity

By invocation of the same

The three in one and one in three

(Words attributed to St Patrick, translation Mrs C F Alexander, 1889, except v.5)

blessing

Music and words from Grace, Host, Late Late Service, Third Sunday Service and Sanctuary.

'Eucharist' has been specifically written for Greenbelt 1999.

It is available on CD, from Proost

Thanks to everyone who has specifically written or contributed material to make 'Eucharist' happen.

Expansive language - confession

Where our choice of words has concealed the riches of your character,
has distorted our understanding of your nature
and has kept you hidden from those who seek you
Nurturing God, forgive us

Where we have created you in our own image,
have thought of you in purely human terms,
have used words to tie you down and box you in
Renewing God, forgive us

Where the language we use for each has upheld sinful power structures instead of subverting them,
where our words have excluded women and privileged men,
have silenced the poor and ignored the disadvantaged,
have dishonoured ethnicity and rejected diversity
Energising God, forgive us

Hear now the words of Jesus for all who are truly sorry and who seek to renew their lives and their language:
your sins are forgiven;
go in peace;
come and follow me.

Holy God
open our eyes
expand our vocabulary
broaden our understanding
enrich our worship
so that we can praise you and know you in ways less idolatrous and more liberating
Amen

Expansive language - generous host

Generous host, Feast maker,
Help me to accept your hospitality
To realise when my cup is full
and to enjoy drinking it?

Expansive language - housekeeper

Homekeeper,
You welcome me in.
You remove my damp, uncomfortable coat
and draw me in beside the fire.
You invite me to the table
and make me part of your family.
Though i am odd and awkward
you make me feel i am a treasured guest
and there will always be a place for me here.

Expansive language - Jesus is not lord

Jesus is not lord
There, I've said it.
It's been bugging me for years.
Lords are pompous rich people who usually inherit a lot of wealth,
talk funny and think they are better than anyone else.
They even get a say in how to run the country and think it's their right.
They live up to their name and 'lord' it over people.
So thank you that today, at last,
Jesus is not lord.

Expansive language - opening prayer

Creator God
swirling, formless one,
hovering over creation and bringing new things to life
you speak new worlds into being with language that creates and liberates

Eternal God
living, limitless one
inhabiting the vast universe with the rich complexity of your being
you reveal yourself to your creatures and invite us to know you

Friendly God.
nurturing, welcoming one
opening yourself wide to the joy and pain of loving your people
you place us in communities and families that echo your true nature

(pause to think about the language we instinctively use for God)

Holy God
We thank you for the ways in which we have known and understood you;
We thank you for the metaphors that have opened our eyes to more of who you are;
We thank you for the language that has brought the transcendent, timeless, mysterious God within our grasp.

Holy God
We are hungry for more of you
We ask you to reveal more of yourself to us
to take us beyond the confines of familiar habits
to free us from the restrictions and distortions of our language
to expand our understanding of you
so that we can love you whole heartedly
we can communicate you faithfully
and we can reflect your full image to a world that needs you
Amen.

Expansive language - quantum

you are not lord - you are lord
you are not father - you are father
you are not friend - you are friend
you are not lover - you are lover
you are not mother - you are mother
you are not god - you are god
you are not saviour - you are saviour
you are not judge - you are judge
you are not king - you are king

you are quantum
the wave and the particle
the fuzzy edge
the paradox
the 'both and' god.

Expansive language - rock

God the rock
solid, enduring, strong and safe
existing through turmoil and peace
awe-inspiring as a mountain range
beautiful as a marble floor
protective like a cathedral wall
a cave in which to shelter
a cool refuge in the heat of the day.

But are you cold and hard?
unmoved and impervious?
impersonal and frightening?
Do you get eroded by wind and weather and the passing of time?

Can you be a rock in some ways and not others?
I need to think some more about this.

Expansive language - words people parked and words people explored

Words people ‘parked’
Lord
Father
Father God
Fullness/energy
Loving
God
Love
Spirit
Majesty
Sustaining
Faith
King
Abba
Creator
He
Three persons - trinity
Peacemaker
Judge
Mother
Provider
Forgiveness
Tender

Words people explored
Midwife
Parent Eagle
You sculpted me, inside and out
Watchful Shepherd
Shaper and moulder
I see you
Unconsuming Fire
The one who comes looking for us
Seeker of my heart
Hostess
The undefinable
Rock
Generous Host
Shepherd
Light of the Dawn
Omnipotent
Nothing
Thirst quencher
Your lost sheep needs you
Ocean
Mechanic
Bread of Life
Energy
Cook
Living water
The energy in all things

go back the way you came

Go back the way you came

After going through the desert, through discouragement and fear, after receiving refreshment Elijah is told to go back the way he came to finish the task of anointing the next king and prophet. It's a long way back!

(We used this over the movie sequence from Plant Earth of deserts where the desert is suddenly filled with gushing water and where the desert blooms)

Go back the way you came...

The desert and the parched land will be glad

Go back the way you came...

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert

Go back the way you came...

The burning sand will become a pool and thirsty ground bubbling springs.

Go back the way you came...

You're not the only one

Go back the way you came...

Build in time for rest, food and drink

Go back the way you came...

What are you doing here?

Go back the way you came...

The wilderness will rejoice and blossom, like the crocus it will burst into bloom

Go back the way you came...

Be strong. Do not fear. Your God will come.

Go back the way you came...

May gladness and joy overtake you and sorrow and sighing flee away

Go back the way you came...

God of broken people and places (far i have come far i must go) - Sept06

God of broken people and broken places
We confess to you our love of comfort,
of the known and predictable,
of the safe and secure.
We recognise that you call us into liminal space
To leave what we know and venture with you into desert and wilderness, into blindness and discomfort
We want to follow you, but it’s hard to leave what we know
Help us to trust you, and to set out.

On the journey of faith,
Far I have come, far I must go

God of broken people and broken places
We thank you for all that Grace has been to us and to many others
We thank you for the space to listen, to grow, to create, to be challenged
We recognise that you are calling us on
To leave what we know and venture with you into new things, into engagement and participation, into creativity and risk, into new structures and opportunities
We want to follow you, but it’s hard to leave what we know and we’re not sure where we’re going
Help us to trust you, and to set out.

On the journey of faith,
Far we have come, far we must go.

God of rebuilt people and rebuilt places
You have plans for deserts and wilderness
‘Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
The thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
Grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.’

God of transformation we look forward to what you will do
With our lives and with Grace

On the journey of faith,
Far we have come, far we must go.

God of many names - commitment prayer

God of many names, my name is known to you.
I am held in the hand of your life, and I do not know what you will make of me.
All I know is that I cannot make myself any more than I could in my mother's womb.
But this I can do, this I choose.
To give myself into the hand of your continuing creativity;
my past, with its joys and triumphs, its failures and regrets;
my present, with its struggles and accomplishments, its hopes and setbacks;
my future, with its fears and freedom, its pain and promise.
To loose and to bind, to stretch and to shape, to become what I will,
trusting the hand that made the world
trusting the spirit that breathes life
trusting the love that will not let me go
trusting the promise of the Word made flesh.
Amen

(naming and presentation: a dedication by kathy galloway from the book 'talking to the bones' spck 1996)

hagar blessing - feb 08

[in spite of being a foreigner and a nobody, in spite of being both the agent and the victim of a moral mess, in spite of not being the mother of the chosen one, hagar is one of the few people in the bible to be able to say, "i have seen god!"]

when we are enslaved in a foreign country
you are the god who sees

when we are the victims of domestic strife
you are the god who sees

when we give birth to disputed children
you are the god who sees

when we are thrown out of our homes
you are the god who sees

when we mock other people's sorrows
you are the god who sees

when our familes reject us
you are the god who sees

when we cannot provide for ourselves
you are the god who sees

when we despair of life itself
you are the god who sees

so may the god who sees hagar and ishmael
the god who sees outsiders and mistakes
the god who sees the ones who are not chosen
watch over us and provide for us
through our wanderings, exiles and errors
this lent and always

amen

How good are we at listening to other people? - Nov 06

I am listening to you, honestly,
But I’m also thinking about what I’m going to say next
I hate embarrassed gaps in conversation when no one knows what to say
I want you to think that I’m interesting, funny, witty
So I’m lining up my response, getting it ready

I am listening to you, honestly,
But I hope you don’t go on too long
I want to catch the final scores, to find out how my team has done
And I need to ring my friend before he goes out for the evening
Then ‘I’m a celebrity’ is on TV and I don’t want to miss that
So make it quick and you don’t need to repeat yourself

I am listening to you, honestly,
But I’m also thinking about what happened at work this week
And what I’ve got to do next week
I’m going to be in trouble if I don’t get that report written
And I need to work out why my colleague isn’t talking to me
So it’s quite hard to hear what you’re saying
over all this internal noise

I am listening to you, honestly,
But that group over there looks like they’re having a much better conversation
They’re laughing and joking
I’d really like to get to know some of them
Not that you’re not important – of course you are
I just wish I had the chance to speak to them too

I am listening to you, honestly,
But to be honest, I wish you’d really listen to me
Just for once, to pay attention to what I have to say
without jumping in with your experience and your solutions
I don’t want you to solve my problems
I just want you to hear me
To hear the me behind the words
To really listen

iconic candle kit

we have had a DIY iconic candle as part of the communion by numbers services (see 2006 | 2007).

in the envelope is...

a night light candle
box of matches
an acetate strip with iconic images printed on it
a paper clip

make the candle by looping the strip and clipping with the paper clip and place over the night light and light the candle. you can get acetates to print on with an ink jet printer from any stationers such as rymans.

you can download a pdf file of the acetate strip we used for the emmaus road communion by numbers (5mb). cut round the strip of images but leave the overlap one end so that you have some blank acetate to fold over when you clip the loop.

identity

Who are you when your job and place in society are taken away - what's left
that can't be taken away? What is the irreducible hardcore you? What is the
you of you?

Is all we have the identities that society has given us - our style tribes,
our clothing labels, our jobs, our cars, our political choices? Are these
like clothes that we pull around our naked selves? Will we shiver and catch
cold without them, or be arrested for indecent exposure of the soul?

So who are you going to be today? We're lost in a world full of choices. In
the past, who you were was given to you by birth and occupation, and few
escaped their place. Now 'who am I?' is a decision we have to make for
ourselves every day, and a lot of the time we don't know where to begin...so
we drift through identities, always acting, reinventing ourselves on the
outside but never able to change ourselves on the inside; or we live and die
by who other people say we are. We don't know how to define ourselves except
by the categories that our society offers us, so we shoehorn ourselves in,
grateful for the security of a label, grateful to belong, even if we have to
cut off bits of our inner selves to fit in the box...

A lot of us are told we're worthless, and that becomes our identity,
tainting everything we do with the stench of failure, making even our
virtues or successes seem provisional and temporary in the face of our
fundamental loserdom.

Those that have success find that it isn't enough to fill a heart, unless
you shrink it...

and when the rest of us find that we don't have the talent for the premier
division, or the head office, or the A-levels, we know that we are failures,
because success is the only success, and we live out our lives knowing that
we were not good enough...

At the beginning of his public ministry, after he had been baptised by John
the Baptist, Jesus went into the desert to find out who he was if he wasn't
going to be a carpenter anymore. Interestingly Luke, in his gospel, puts in
Jesus' genealogy, his family tree, at this point - this is how Jesus' fellow
Jews defined who he was - later, when Jesus starts preaching in the
synagogue in Nazareth, his fellow Nazarenes are outraged at his presumption
- who does he think he is, they say, isn't he just Joseph's son? In their
society, where family defines who you are, they think they know all about
him by knowing his family.

So Jesus goes out into the desert, away from the pigeonholes of job and
family, to ask God who he really is. And by the end of the 40 days, Satan's
repeated question 'if you are the son of God...' tells us that Jesus had
found out.

So who does God think you are?

In the desert all the things that we use to define our identities are
missing, and we are left with nothing except what we have inside. A lot of
us fear that we would find we had nothing inside, or only fear and pain, and
so we never venture into the desert. In the desert there is nowhere to hide,
if God comes to us, as he came to Jesus, as he came to Moses, as he came to
Jacob, to show us who we really are to him. And we clutch our thin rags of
identity to us like armour, and shrink back from his touch - better the
little we have, we say, than risk even that being taken away as well.

But those who try to save their life will lose it all, and God needs to
strip us naked, in spite of our fear and embarrassment - and if we let him
remove these filthy rags, and wash the festering wounds, he will reclothe us
as something we never imagined, or only caught glimpses of in dreams and ran
after down the High Street, but found that the things we bought could never
quite get us there, because we were still wearing the same old stinking
underwear underneath - and when we put on the identity God offers us - the
one he sewed himself, until his hands bled - we will know that we have
become our real selves at last, we have found out who we really are, that we
are free, and need never search, lost, through the world again...

and maybe the desert turns out to be a beach, after all, so we make a
bonfire of those old rags and watch the sun rise over the ocean...

If we slow down... - aug/sept 04

originally part of the slow service a reflection by steve:

reality is a static image, rolling past at 24 frames per second
if we slow the movie down, what will we see?

slow the projector in your head and lose the fluidity
embrace the flicker, the jerkiness
allow the frames of your life to disconnect and stop

now your life lies still in front of your eyes, what do you see?
play 'spot the difference' with each frozen moment
now you have time to examine carefully each corner and shadow
what details are revealed, that you always move too fast to see?

fleeting expressions and imperceptible gestures
betraying a truth not discerned
a turning you didn't take
another universe of futures, vanishing from sight

to us the stars stand still
but ancient eyes could not navigate by our skies
the north point of the sky moves in a circle 28000 years around
the north star we know is not the north star of our ancestors or descendants
they will see other constellations

does god see our lives the way we see the stars?
innumerable slow movements plotted and understood on charts long before the event
constellations drawn that serve for a while and break up
how slow is reality for god?
what do fast and slow mean in eternity
where every tiny moment and endless age are available for detailed inspection
a day like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day

if we slow down do we see more like god sees?
see all the details
creation's crazy minutiae
who would have time to see all that stuff except god?
is that why there's so much of it?

how quickly does salvation come?
if we slowed our lives down would we see every step and progression?
or would its detail still evade us
a blur of motion in the shadows of a static frame
a frozen block in the centre of the movie?

if we slow down will we see what god sees?
will we see what god is doing?

have you ever tried?

Ignation Examen

Julie Dunstan led grace through an Examen for the January 2005 service.
This is the text of her explantion and mediation.

It is the beginning of a new year and, perhaps, following the tragedy of the Tsunami we might approach it with a sense of gratitude and humility for the privilege of life still before us. How, then, can we be more open to God's invitation to live a wholesome holiness....

Finding God in all things is the catch phrase of Ignatian spirituality... It is a key concept in the return to a more grounded, more experiential faith. And it characterises Ignatian spirituality - from which we get the Examen.

Many of us are no longer satisfied with a God who sits above us, aloof - requiring a radical departure or denial of our everyday realities - inner and outer. Though we must certainly accept that God cannot be reduced to our realities ( he is always also utterly other!) we are it seems, reclaiming the incarnational God - the God revealed in human form - vulnerable, ordinary, desiring, suffering, transformed.

The Examen is a prayer practice, articulated and made popular by a man who came to be known as Ignatius of Loyola - born in the late 15th C in Northern Spain. It is, in short, a way of listening to our selves and to God. It is a practice of listening contemplatively to our own lives. It is a tool for discerning the presence and absence of God in our lives.

God is constantly revealing himself to us in our experience. It is because God is present and available to human experience that we have a divinely inspired story to tell. Someone has called it - reading the scripture of our life...

St Ignatius, in his teaching of the Examen expected that God would speak through our deepest feelings and yearning, what he called consolation and desolation. Consolation is whatever helps us to connect in love to ourselves, others, God and the universe. In his language - whatever leads to an increase in faith, hope and love. Desolation is whatever blocks that connection...

So what follows is this - if we can reflect upon what in our life connects us to Life, love, faith, hope, peace... the qualities of the spirit... we can track where it is God is most available to us - or, more precisely, where we are most available to God. And the opposite - if we can see where it is we are being drained of life - and then think about how we block God in those areas... This is not the same as feeling merely good or bad.

The point is - to discern God's presence and will is no longer a case of looking 'out there' - but inside...

The Examen is traditionally done on a daily basis - but can usefully be applied to all sorts of other times -

I'd like to lead you in an Examen of the last year as a way of entering this New year with more awareness of where God is speaking to you in your life...and where you find yourself being drawn away from God's love.

I invite you, then, to read the scripture of your life...

Examen of the Year

Stillness
Take a moment to find a comfortable position (the great masters of prayer never neglected the body!) Find a position which is relaxed but alert... A simple and longstanding technique at the beginning of meditation is to use the noticing of our breath to gently bring our awareness and focus inwards.

Isaiah 48
(slightly paraphrased)
Come near and listen to this:
from the beginning I have never spoken to you obscurely,
and all the time these things have been happening, I have been present
Thus says Yaweh, your redeemer, the Holy One:
I, your God, teach you what is good for you,
I lead you in the way that you must go.
If only you had been alert...

Become more fully aware now of being in the presence of God: in the presence of love...

You are precious in my eyes and honoured and I love you...

How are you in your body? Let your body be before God
How are you in your mind? Let your mind be before God
How are you in your feelings? Let your feelings be before God

In God we live, and move and have our being...

Thankfulness
Give thanks for the presence of God in our humanity. In our physical, intellectual, emotional realities.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us...

Give thanks for the reality of God loving and living in us and through us...

Light-Seeking
Ask God now to help you to see and to understand how her love has been working within you over the last year. Ask God's spirit to enlighten and guide your thoughts.

Cleanse the thoughts of our heart by the inspiration of your holy spirit...

Reflection
Begin to let yourself remember the last year... don't try too hard... At first, just scan the year and get a sense of it... Christmas and the time leading up to it... Autumn...... Summer...... Spring..... the year beginning 2004.....

Now let come what comes at first when you ask the questions:

When did I feel best able to give and receive love?
What caused in me an increase in faith, hope and love?
Where was I drawn to God?
In fears, in joy, in pain, in creativity?
In prayer, in liturgy, scripture, creation?
In work or leisure?
In family, friend, colleague, church community, neighbour?

Did I feel myself being nudged or prompted in any particular way?

Out of all the year's experiences, is there one experience, that I feel most grateful for?

Relish these moments of consolation - of revelation...
Give thanks.

Sorrow and Regret
Look again back over the year. When was I aware of God's absence?
When did I feel least able to give or receive love?
What caused in me a decrease in faith, hope and love?
When did I fail to respond to His love at work in me?

Without harsh judgement, just let yourself look at that experience.

In the light of God's love - what would you like to say to God about that time, event, experience? What does God want to say to you?

Hope for the Future
And now, coming back into the present:

What insight, revelation, grace do I receive from the experiences of the last year?
Having reviewed the last year - what gift do I hold for the new year?
What would I like to bring into the new year.

Find a word or a phrase or an image to represent what you'd like to bring into the New Year...

Keep that word or phrase or image in your heart over the next year. You might like to adapt this examen for use everyday or weekly.

This is what I shall tell my heart and so recover hope:
The favours of the Lord are not all past,
his kindnesses are not exhausted
his mercies are new every morning
Great is his faithfulness...
Yaweh is good to those who trust him
To the soul that searches for him...

Let's pray for the grace to move into this new year with love, faith and hope... for the grace to bring more of what gives us life... for the grace to continue to recognise God in our daily life...

TS Eliot
The Four Quartets

But to apprehend
The point of intersection of the timeless
With time, is an occupation for the saint -
No occupation either, but something given
And taken, in a lifetime's death in love,
Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender.
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost is a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts...

Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth and Calvary

Adapted from a prayer by Doug Gay from Alternative Worship

Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth and Calvary
We celebrate your birth
Come and be born in us

Jesus of the manger and the inn
Jesus of the workshop and the temple
Jesus of the lakeside and the city
Jesus of the fireside and the roadside
We celebrate your life
Come and be born in us

Jesus of Mary and Joseph
Jesus of shepherds and angels
Jesus of children and animals
Jesus of fishermen and priests
Jesus of women and men
Jesus of tax collectors and prostitutes
Jesus of all who will receive you
We celebrate your resurrection
Come and be born in us

landing cards

Welcoming the stranger

Luke 24 28-29

Read out the following passage:

As they approached the airport to which they were flying, Jesus acted as if he were going further.
But they urged him strongly, "stay with us, it's half past 11
and your connecting flight's not until 6.45am." So he had to fill in a landing card to stay with them.

Now read out these instructions:

Each person take a landing card.
Get into pairs, preferably with someone you don't know.
Each of you fills in the card for the other person by asking them the questions on it.

There is a spare landing card. if you have time, fill it in for Jesus.

Mary listens... nov 06

Listening to God – what does this mean to me, what does it mean to you?
In Christian circles taking time to listen to God often seems like ‘motherhood and apple pie’ – sign of our obedience and even humility. Something passive and accepting.

Going to take some time now to look at a moment when listening to Christ changed a world – it’s the account of Martha and Mary inviting Jesus into their home – going to spend some time thinking about and imagining that day when Mary listened to Jesus. I am going to run through the passage – let’s try and think what it might have been like to be there as a man or a woman. As we go along I’ll give some questions to think about and also at the end leave some time to think a bit more.

It’s Bethany and you are in the house of a woman called Martha – it’s a bit unusual that – women don’t often own houses and certainly don’t invite men in to be their guests. But Martha seems a pretty generous woman opening up her home to friends and strangers and certainly seems to want to feed us all well as she is busy in the kitchen.

Think for a moment – are you in the living area with Jesus – or are you in the kitchen?

There is something else which is not quite the usual thing – Martha’s sister Mary isn’t giving a hand in the kitchen – instead she is out in the main living area with the men. She isn’t really doing anything - just sitting beside him - listening to him – you can’t hear what he is saying.

What do you think about that?

Although there are some rabbis who think that women should learn the law – there are others who fiercely oppose it. And even those who believe that everyone should know something of the law probably wouldn’t have a woman as a pupil, a disciple … after all that might mean they meant to teach someone else in their turn.

Martha is coming out of the kitchen and she doesn’t look very happy – she is saying something

‘Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.’

Why do you think she is she so concerned? Is she overloaded with work? Is she resentful of Mary? Is she frightened that Mary is too unconventional? Is she jealous?

Jesus is saying something: ‘Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential and Mary has chosen it – it’s the main course and won’t be taken from her.’

What does he mean?
What does it mean to you?

Just think for a moment – what does listening to God mean to you?
Is it a duty?
Is it something that has changed your life?
Is it something that has changed your whole way of thinking?
Could it change the world?

I love this part of the gospels –for me it isn’t a tale of quiet contemplative Mary – but of bold Mary wanting desperately to learn all she can by listening to Jesus so that she can play her part in the kingdom. We don’t even know what Jesus was talking about – all we do know is the listening was important and that everyone is welcome.

Miracles Liturgy - Nov04

this liturgy concluded a series of two services looking at miracles. written by jen:

Lord God,
You spoke into darkness and chaos and then there was light;
You imagined this earth in its complexity and beauty and called it into being
You created humanity in your own image and gave us a home to live in
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord God,
You walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego through the fiery furnace
You shut the mouths of hungry lions and kept Daniel safe until morning
You gave Hannah a family when she despaired of ever having a child
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord God,
You changed water into wine so the wedding party could continue
You calmed a storm and your disciples with words of quiet authority
You transformed a boy's picnic into a meal for a multitude with plenty left over
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord God,
You healed a woman from 12 years of bleeding and rejection
You asked Bartimaeus what he wanted and then restored his sight
You watched a paralysed man being lowered through the roof and helped him to his feet
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord God,
You called Lazarus from the tomb and restored him to life
You walked past the mourners at Jairus' house and gave his daughter back to him
You suffered a horrendous crucifixion in order to defeat sin and death and give us life
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord God,
You told your disciples that they would do greater things than you had done
We hear and read stories of miracles in our world - of you healing the sick,
setting prisoners free, releasing drug addicts from their addiction,
providing the right amount of money at just the right time
We believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

And yet, Lord, we don't see many miracles happening around us
We have friends with cancer, and we pray, and they are not healed
We have friends who long for children, and we pray, and they do not conceive
Our doubt is mixed with faith
Our trust is accompanied by questions
We acknowledge the mystery of faith and prayer, and the ways in which they are connected
We acknowledge that you often do things differently to the way we would do them
We long to know you better, to understand more of your ways
And we believe you can do miracles
But even if you don't, you are still God

Lord we believe.
Help our unbelief

More words from the life of Jesus - Dec 09

And then for three years, an abundance of words from God,
spoken by the Word, Jesus.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Come and follow me

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Your sins are forgiven

Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.

Mary do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

noise

noise is unwanted soundwhich is whyyour parents call the music you like noise

but noise isn't just about sound

it's about information

noise is whatever drowns out or interferes with or conceals meaningful information

sound engineers, radio engineers speak of two things, signal and noise.

the signal is the message, the meaningful part of the transmission

the noise is all the unwanted stuff that interferes with your ability to hear

or decipher the signal.

our lives are full of noisetoo much information

too many messages that don't add up to any coherent whole

all competing for our attentionwe can't find the signal

or make anysense of ourlives

and so we gointo the desert to escape the noise

but then we can hear our internal noise

some of which is very grossespecially during silent prayer

and some of which is subtle but more deeply disturbing

like tinnitus

which is nerve damage to the inner ear resulting in a permanent whistling or

hissing noise inside your head that you can neverescape

for someone like me who suffers from it there is no longer any such thingas silence

if i am in a silent place what i hear is the high-pitched whistle inside my own head

and that's just the physical noise inside us

but our heads are full of mental noise.

the thoughts that won'tstop chattering that stupidsong that you can't get

out of your headthat nagging worry about somethingyou said or didn't say

that hurt and anger thatyou can't let go of, churninginside you when

you're supposed to be concentratingon work that dumb

joke that keeps making you giggleon the bus so that people lookat you strangely...

andwhen you're alone you can't pretend any more that any of these were necessary

so you try and put them aside topray

and now you become aware of spiritual noise

all those things that compete with god

distracting your attentiontowards selfish or worldly concerns

drowning out your attempts to hear god's voicedistorting the message

or making youlose bitsli e a mobile ph ne pasng under a bridg

sin is a kind of spiritual tinnitus

thecloser we get togod's silence

themoreweareawareoftheunceasingwhineinsideourselves

ofwantandneedandhurtandself

trouble iswe've lost the volume knoband anyway we're scared of silence

because without all the activity and distractions

we'll have to face ourselves and godand we are frightenedof what we might find

but god longs to heal us

to still the oscilloscopes of our souls

turn the noise off

and give us peace

because only then

will we be able to hear

the music of heaven

Old Testament Prophecies - Dec 09

Throughout the story of God’s interactions with people in the Old Testament are glimpses of a different future, a redeemed creation, and a messiah who will make it happen.

In Genesis, comes the first hint:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Isaiah talked about the birth of a baby:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Micah saw where that child would be born:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."

And Malachi foretold someone who would prepare the way for this messiah:
For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act," says the LORD Almighty.

"See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."

Our Companion & Vindicator

Middle English : from Old French compaignon, literally ‘one who breaks bread with another,’ based on Latin com- ‘together with’ + panis ‘bread.’

On the night of his betrayal
Jesus our companion
Took bread
Broke it
Gave it to his followers
Eat
My body is broken for you

We break this bread with those who:
hunger for justice,
dream of a land free from occupation,
long to live life free from fear,
search for food and water each day,
long for companionship.

ORIGIN mid 16th cent.(in the sense [deliver, rescue] ): from Latin vindicat- ‘claimed, avenged,’ from the verb vindicare, from vindex, vindic- ‘claimant, avenger.’

On the night of his betrayal
Jesus our vindicator
Took wine
Gave it to his followers
Remember
My blood is poured out for you
Drink
This is a new promise
All who come to me will have life

We drink this wine with those who:
see too much blood flow,
watch loved ones die,
are judged by their race or skin colour,
carry in their blood the stigma of HIV/AIDS,
long for someone to dry their tears.

Come, eat, drink, you who hunger and thirst,
For a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world,
For healing and wholeness – Come.

thanks to Chris Rose

perceiving angels

Genesis 18
While Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day, near the great trees of Mamre, he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "If I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so that you can be refreshed and then go on your way - now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say."

Middle Eastern hospitality, offered to passing strangers. When Abraham says "my lord", "your servant", he hasn't guessed their identity - it's just the polite way to address strangers that one is offering hospitality to. They just appear to be three men - no wonder Sarah laughs when they tell her that she will bear a child within the year - what can they know, she thinks.

But Abraham, who had met God before, had guessed the identity of at least one of them. Sometimes it has been thought that these three men are the three persons of the Trinity; but the text doesn't bear that out - verse 22 states that the men went away to Sodom, while the LORD stayed behind and bargained with Abraham for the fate of the city; and when the men arrive at Sodom they are described as two angels. Neither Lot nor the people of Sodom realise at any point that the visitors are angels - the angels have great difficulty convincing Lot and his family that they are in danger, and end up having to grab them by the hands and drag them out of the doomed city by force.

In Judges 13 another childless couple have a mysterious visitor. In the words of the woman, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son.'" Manoah, her husband, prays for the man to return, and he does so; Manoah treats him with the hospitality and reverence due to a prophet or holy man, but, the Bible comments, Manoah did not realise that it was the angel of the LORD. He asked the stranger his name, but the man replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." The stranger politely refuses to eat their food, but suggests they offer it to the LORD. It is only when they set fire to the offering and the angel flies up to heaven in the flames that they realise that their visitor was not, perhaps, human! The child, incidentally, was Samson.

In several places in the Old Testament it is not clear whether 'the angel of the LORD' is an angel or the LORD himself. In Genesis 16:7 onwards, Hagar, Sarah's maidservant, is running away from her mistress, who has ill-treated her; and she is met by 'the angel of the LORD', who comforts and looks after her. Although the mysterious person is called throughout 'the angel of the LORD' and not simply 'the LORD', Hagar reacts as if she had actually seen and spoken to God. In Judges 6, the stranger who visits Gideon is sometimes referred to as 'the angel of the LORD' and sometimes as simply 'the LORD'; neither the writer of this passage, nor Gideon, seem to be able to make up their minds. A traditional Christian interpretation of this ambiguity is that this particular angel was a manifestation of Christ before the Incarnation, as God's Messenger Servant. It may be, however, that as the LORD's personal representative the angel could speak as if he were God. The angel is, so to speak, transparent; you look at the angel, but all you can see is God shining through him. The angel speaks, but you hear God's voice.

The inability of Lot and the people of Sodom to perceive the angelic nature of their visitors suggests that the ability to see through an angel's disguise is related to spiritual sensitivity. It almost seems like a rule in the Bible, that the closer a person is to God, the more immediately they recognise His messengers. Manoah and especially his wife immediately sense something special about their visitor; Gideon is a bit suspicious and takes about five minutes; and if you want a contrast to Lot, consider the Virgin Mary, who spotted that her visitor was an angel straight away!

On the other hand - on the morning of the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene, standing outside Jesus' empty tomb, doesn't appear to notice that the two men sitting in the tomb dressed in white are angels; she is, I suppose, too busy crying over her loss to take much notice of them, except perhaps to turn away embarrassed that someone has caught her crying. Her mind is on other things.

Which inevitably leads to the question: How often have we failed to perceive angels? The Bible narratives suggest that they don't always look extraordinary, especially when meeting people in public places.

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

thanks to mark berry

prayer to offer creativity

sometimes
maybe you choose not to know
what we are about to do
because you want us to surprise you
with our imagination and creativity

you made us in your image
with the power to create something new
unlike anything done before

and, just as the angels were astonished and delighted
when you created this universe

seeing something they could begin to experience, but not explain beforehand,
because it was itself the words of its own explanation
which could only be spoken by living them

so you want us to bring you the same delight and astonishment
as our gift back to you

and so we offer ourselves and our works
our worship and our anger
our best moments and our worst moments
our songs and our silences
our tears and our laughter
in surprise and delight at finding ourselves loved

as you hesitate at the door in anticipation
wondering
whatever next?

Psalm 50 remix

Grace listen...
I have no complaint about your sacrifices -
you certainly put the creative effort in to your worship.
But I do not need your art installations, stations, movie loops, ambient tunes, apple macs, ipods
gas masks, photography, font selection, stories, good taste, creative liturgies and new technologies.
All the silicon in the valley is mine
I know all the art in the whole world
The creation is my gallery
I made imagination!
Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God
out of friendship and not obligation
That's what it's about...

Psalm Structure Twister

Psalms have an inner structure, marking the stages of a spiritual journey. Usually they start by looking at the world or the situation as it is, in all its alienation, injustice, distress. Then the psalmist turns to God, in anger, in a cry for help, in thanksgiving - and then things look different. There's a change of perspective. There's hope or strength or the promise of justice, and the thought of these leads to praise. There aren't many psalms that stay in one place, all praise or all lament.

The elements of psalms are shown on the Twister board. Can you find which one is not present in real psalms? Can you say why?

Psalms of Thanksgiving
(65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136, 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138...)

Gratitude for God's specific acts of goodness, protection, blessing. A needed corrective to our infantile tendencies

Psalms of Lament

(3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 120, 139, 142, 12, 44, 80, 94, 137...)

Most common type. Both individual and corporate laments expressing fear, distress, anger at circumstances and adversaries

Hymns of Praise
(8, 19, 33, 103, 104, 111, 114, 117, 145-149...)
According to God his worth for who he is: Creator, protector and benefactor, Lord of history

Salvation History
(78, 105, 106, 135, 136)
These psalms review God's work historically, and often include biting commentary on Israel's spiritual state and God's faithfulness

Wisdom Psalms
(1, 36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133 (cf. Prov. 8 is a psalm)
Much like the proverbs, these psalms address practical life issues from the perspective of trust in God. Themes center on the righteous/wicked, wise/fool in terms of aphorisms.

Celebration and Affirmation
Liturgy for corporate celebrations relating to:

Enthronement Psalms, celebrating the new king and God as King (24, 29, 47, 93, 95-99);

Reaffirmation of the Davidic Covenant (eg 132);

Royal Psalms addressing both David and messiah (2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 144);

Songs of Zion, Psalms celebrating the place where God is present and where his kings reign (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122)

Psalms of exile

Grace's sevice on Exile (Febuary 2001) invited the people there to write a psalm of exile, with Psalm 137 as an example. Ranging from personal experience to trying to understand the exile of others, some of the authors were kind enough to leave their psalms to be published on the website.

A Psalm of David - Selah!

from the arranger of music on the anniversary of the death of his niece.

Lord I am so angry!

You let us down so badly

How could you?

I am so hurt

I thought you wanted to heal

Why didn't you?

I am so disappointed in you

You could have answered my prayer

are my prayers so worthless?

Lord why did you cast us adrift

and have us lost in the blackness?

Even now after all this time I am still sad.

Will I live with sadness forever?

Did you allow this to happen so I would grow as a person?

was life not important

Does my sister just get on with life

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away - Ha!

Is that the best you can do?

But Lord - there is no-one else who can comfort.

In the end I guess there is only you.

So - Here I am again - Selah!

Exile

I came from a lost family.

Somewhere, a moment away, I don't know when

They lost who they were. They became unrooted.

The exile was dreadful - but what mattered is not what they took,

money, pride, language, anger, fears, hurts

but what they left their rootedness - they sought anonymity -

tolerance, were thankful for indifference

What matters is not the money, the power, the anger, the alienation -

but to find the sense of joy, acceptance,

strength, its inside you - god plants it in.

When am I home? What is home

-accepting friends who love me as

I am and God seeing and calling me in

Exile

some thing are part of me

like my friends and family

I'd cry if I had to leave them,

to be deserted on an island

some things I like are hard to miss out

like football training and cub scouts

god would always be with me

for comforting and company

I love homer and he's my pet

to part with him would make us fret

to be deserted would make me worry

I would say to god "I'm sorry!!"

I like to play computer games

and to leave them would be a shame.

But I have always got you lord.

with your strength and loving accord.

Amen

Harry Baker

Exile

I tried

but you didn't listen

Why?

What did I do?

You just threw me out

That's where I live

Yes, on the street

Of all the places, the street

All because of you!

I always felt sorry for people who had nothing

Now I'm one of them are you sorry?

Are you?

I know your touch, I feel your love.

Your peace is near. Your grace washes

I learn to try. I try to learn.

I'm confused. I fall down. I'm exiled. I'm confused

Are my leaders confused. Do they fall down.

Yet I'm exiled and I fall down

Oh my God, lead me into your presence

Into your way of everlasting

Did I ask too much. Am I not allowed to fail, to fall.

I need your perspective, your heart

lead me, lead us. Tend me, tend us.

It wasn't that we'd lived there long

A couple of centuries that's all

It wasn't that wonderful a place. Bricks & mortar. Rough walls. A roof.

A place of peace, a blessing from God

A place of welcome, a blessing to people

Our enemies wanted the land for their own. Defence and security they said

Not the home - they would build a new home easily enough

Their claim was strong:

Land given by God

Our claim was weak:

Land of our ancestors

Land of our birth

We have been taken to new land

Our home a temporary shelter

But we will praise our God

For he is still our God

We are blessed under canvas and stars

And there is still welcome here in His name

Exile

More than a day in the pit and despair

A whole existence without a future, not even a now

God don't let me be there.

Without Linda, friends, family,

life would seem without hope.

I would be so angry at you God

that I would have spit on the ground you have created.

Even though you probably would be

I wouldn't like you there

But still, but still, but still

You love me and I don't want you to stop.

God sustain my life, meet my anger and turn it your way.

Lead me through, but give me the time to work it out

Be with me and all in despair

Heavenly Father

You have given us 3 score and ten

70 years form our birth to our grave

70 years in exile, in struggle.

DO not forget your creations oh Lord

Forget not me as I make my way

When my heart grows faint.

when I struggle to advance

Cover me with your wings

breath on the embers of my spirit

restore my strength oh Lord!

Help me to live not perish

Acknowledge me my saviour

comfort me in my fearfulness

But for you, I would give up

Without you I would embrace the grave.

As I consider my destruction, call me back

As I surrender to despair, stay in my hand.

lift me on your wings

Embrace me with your love

Without you, I am empty, I am alone.

God - I can't hear you when I listen at night:

and gaze at flickering stars and full moon.

God - I can't see you when I wake:

in faces, moments, places and all the photos that I own.

God - I can't talk to you when I am on my own:

silence, blackness, emptiness swallow all my words.

God - can you hear me?

my cry for answers, for rest, for peace, and for justice.

God - can you see me?

my tears of anger, loss, isolation and longing.

God - can you talk to me?

tell me that you love me, tell me that it will be OK

I know that you are there, my God.

keep me strong

help me to believe

Amen.

Psalm 137 - rewrite

I sat at the dining room table after church with a coffee in my hand and

wept inside when I remembered the Kingdom vision of faith affecting all of

life and culture, and of God infusing all of reality with his inspiration

and Spirit igniting my soul with fire and excitement.

Yet the service was so bereft of any of this. It wasn't a one off either. .

. . .. .. The stereotypes of Christians in the culture ring too true - nice,

moral majority, quaint, well meaning, elderly but irrelevant to life today.

Friends always look surprised when they discover I go to church... ... why?

I can't sing at church any more - the words sound hollow and trite - like

the band playing nice jazz while the titanic sinks.

How can I express what is inside in this situation of exile? But I mustn't

lose the vision - if I lose the vision I have wasted my life!

It would be easy to blame the gods of postmodernism and see them as the new

Babylon but I fear the enemy is within. The church is where the surgery is

needed. I wish you would go and drown in the sea so we could start again

from scratch.

Exile

A secure future, mapped out, triumphant, successful

Shattered by a broken roof

Homeless

Friendless

We thought we'd heard God

But he was saying something very different

And had to use drama, storms, crashes and falling ceilings

To make himself heard over our smug complacency

We tried to hear again.

Started again

Lots of change, feelings of being let down, rejected

struggling to survive.

An enforced separation from present and expected future

Became a journey to a new present and a different future

Bleak days, loneliness, abandonment

led the way to a new home, new role, new friends, new future

Thankyou Lord for showing that Lord

and for staying with us as the echoes faded, the rubble settled,

If I get that complacent, that safe, that secure

Do it again

Do it again.

Exile

Its a very lonely place

I don't know what to say

Have I missed your face

Or are you showing me the way

I'm finding this quite scary

I haven't been here before

The structures that I'm used to

Are no longer the law

I'm searching for perfect freedom

The liberty to be me

Is this your kingdom?

Is Jesus still the key

My friends don't understand

they're content to stay

You're taking me on an adventure

You are the potter, I am the clay.

Please protect me Lord

I don't want to get it wrong

I want to know your nearness

may my life be a song

I dedicate myself to you

You're showing me the way

I want to be found in your truth

If that's OK.

Sharon Downing

purple

Christ's piece is you,
Christ's piece is me,
It is those that do,
And it is those that be,
Without one another we can't cover 360 degrees,
Because we don't need 'I's to see, we need We.

As every image that we see of ourselves is reflected,
Every image that we see of the world is subjective,
We need two points of view to gain some perspective,
And the ability and humility to accept this.

Because in our vision lies division,
A polarised view of action and pacifism,
But contradiction doesn't mean fact and fiction,
more like discordant harmonies in the melody of wisdom.

I need you, like red needs blue,
You need me, like do needs be,
And life shouldn't be binary,
Our eyes shouldn't be primary,
We need to trade in reds and blues for indigos and violets see:
We need to try and be purple.

Not just protest march bruises as we go out and do,
Or blood filled cheeks as we hold our breath and be,
I mean purple.
Full circle.
The hares and the rabbits,
the tortoises and turtles,
Purple.

So let us be moved to be mauve,
Maroon and mulberry,
Lilac, plum and lavender,
May the red and blue poles of our souls and our minds combine to be magnets of magenta,
Purple.

May we take the opposites and make the composite,
As every image has its limits
And every picture could be richer,
If we have someone else to see that we are in it,
We need to be purple.

[by Harry Baker aka Dubb]

Silence in heaven; turmoil on earth

Music: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco)
The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel were tiny compared with the Empires that surounded them; Egypt to the SW, and Assyria to the East.

In 586BC the Assyrian ruler Nebuchadnezzar conquered the people of Judah, and exiled them to Babylon.

However, big empires can be conquered too – Cyrus the Great, the Persian ruler, conquered the Assyrians, and in 535BC he pemitted 50,000 of the people of Judah to return home to Jerusalem. Eighty years later, in 456BC, another 5000 returned, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

Temple worship was restored, and there were prophets in the land. The last canonical prophet was Malachi, around 400BC, who chided Israel for cheating on their tithes, and not serving God in their hearts; he foretold both wrath to come, and another prophet.

But the Kingdom of Judah sat on some important trade-routes, and it wasn’t long before another conquerer came by to try his luck.

Map of the Conquests of Alexander the Great
In 333BC Alexander the Great conquered the Persians. He attacked first Tyre, then Gaza: after capturing the cities he killed all men of military age and sold all the women and children into slavery. Jerusalem was wiser: it opened its gates and welcomed him.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

Alexander conquers territory as far as present-day Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. He only turns back when his soldiers threaten to desert him. He gets a reputation for ruthless slaughter – even today, in Afghanistan, mothers will threaten their children with: “If you don’t behave, Sikandar will get you”. He establishes Greek Cities all the way through Asia Minor, linked by good roads; promotes Greek language and culture… and then dies.

Map of the Seleucid Empire
When Alexander died, his four generals divvid the lands up between themselves.

Map of the Seleucid Empire with: Tutankhamen “Up Pompeii”, and Armless Apollo
Ptolemy got Egypt, someone else got Greece, another the area we now call Turkey, and the commander-in-chief, Seleucus, got the lion’s share – and established a dynasty to run what became the Seleucid Empire.

So there are now three Power blocs – Egypt, Seleucid Greeks, and a small upstart Empire in Italy – Rome – but they’re busy fighting Carthage – we don’t have to worry about them for a bit.

There was civil war for 40 years between the Greek generals, and between 319 and 302 BC, Jerusalem changed hands seven times.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

Picture of Greek wrestlers
The Seleucid Empire attempted to “Hellenize” the Near East – by encouraging Greeks to settle in the area, establishing Greek Cities as focal points for trade and transport. Many of the existing cities began — or were compelled by force — to adopt Hellenized philosophic thought, religious sentiments, and politics.

Picture of Greek Discus thrower
At this time Jewish society started to divide into the “hellenised” Jews – speaking Greek – and those who tried to resist Hellenisation. In 175 BC The high priest Jason converted Jerusalem into a Greek polis replete with gymnasium. Some Jews are known to have engaged in non-surgical foreskin restoration in order to join the dominant cultural practice of socializing naked in the gymnasium, where their circumcision would have been a social stigma.

The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV killed 40,000 Jews after a failed revolt, then sold another 40,000 into slavery. Then he tried to outlaw the Jewish religion; banning the Sabbath, killing people who circumcised their children, banning temple or synagogue worship; when people met to worship secretly in caves, he burnt them alive. People were even afraid to admit to being a Jew.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

However, there was a freedom movement. A rural priest, Mattathias, and his sons, the Maccabees, rebelled.

Picture of Che Guevara
Judah Maccabee freed Jerusalem in 164 BC, and cleansed the Temple. Only enough sacred oil could be found to fuel the Temple lamps for one day – but miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days – giving rise to the festival of Hannukah. Judah sought an alliance with the Republic of Rome, but was then defeated and killed by the Seleucid Greeks.

Picture of Greeks running
Judah’s brothers, Jonathon and Simon, continued the guerilla warfare against the Seleucids and the Hellenised Jews, and after several years of living in swamps and caves and launching raids on cities they won.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

Picture of Che Guevara (again)
They established the Hasmodian Kingdom of Judea, and after Jonathon’s assassination, Simon reached an accomodation with the Seleucids: you leave us alone, and we sit as a semi-autonomous part of your empire.
Now we start to get the division of Jewish religious thinkers into Pharisees and Saducees… the pharisees thought no-one should be king unless they were of the line of David (the Maccabees weren’t) and wanted to get rid of Greek (Hellenistic) influence. The Saduccees were more Hellenised, more worldy. The Maccabees were mostly Saduccees, even though they’d been fighting against Greek political control. The Maccabean leaders tended to take both the roles of King and High Priest.

Picture of oil slick bird
But after Simon was assassinated, it all began to go wrong again.

When the Seleucids started having civil wars between themselves, they forgot all about Judea. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon the Maccabee, was able to hire mercenaries and start conquering the surrounding territory – Samaria, Edom – places that had substantial Jewish populations who needed liberating – but then, when he ‘liberated’ them… he forced conversion and circumsicion on the Edomites, destroyed the Samaritan places of worship and enslaved the Greek settlers.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

John’s son Jannaeus continued using mercenaries to expand Judean territory. He was a Saduccee, and when High Priest, he deliberately got one of the laws of Succot wrong – the crowd pelted him with lemons – which was what he wanted them to do – it gave him an excuse to set the troops on them. 6000 were killed.

This led to a six-year civil war between the Pharisees and Saducees. The Pharisees did so badly that they were reduced to asking for help from the Seleucid Greeks – but still lost. Jannaeus crucified 800 of the rebel leaders, having their wives and children’s throats cut in front of them while they died – whilst he dined with his concubines.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

Picture of tug of war
After Jannaeus… his sons Hyrcanus II (pro-Pharissee) and Aristobulus II (pro-saduccee) battled over the Hasmodean crown.

Hyrcanus beseiged Aristobulus in Jerusalem; at passover the inhabitants paid 1000 dinar for a sacrifical lamb, but he gave them a pig instead. He stoned to death a holy man for refusing to pray for the destrauction of Jerusalem . The civil war between the two brothers was stirred by Hyrcanus’ advisor, Antipater the Idumean (Edomite), a sort of Peter Mandleson figure who quietly got his own sons, Phasael and Herod, made governors of Jerusalem and Galilee.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

Picture of Frankie Howerd going “Oooo!”
Rome saw a chance to expand, and backed Hyrcanus – as the stupider of the two, he would be more malleable by Rome.

But in the end it was Herod – the Edomite – not even a “proper” Jew – whom Rome established as a client-King. Herod married the last maccabean princess… then had her brother drowned at a party. Then he killed her, then her mother, then three of his own sons.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

By 4bc, knowing he was dying, and fearing that no-one would mourn him, Herod ordered that when he died, a group of prominent Israelites would be murdered, so that at least there would be some crying for someone.

Picture either of “burning building” or “fire”
So it all went horribly wrong. Judea got her freedom from the Greeks – the son of the freedom-fighters then oppressed her neighbours, then the grandson of the freedom-fighters oppressed the pharisees, then the great-grandsons of the freedom-fighters fought between themselves, and Rome took the opportunity to seize power.

But there was no word of prophecy in this time.

So – for the pillaged and beleaguered populace – who’ve seen all their hopes betrayed, and their leaders become more interested in their own power than in their people – the question is

How do you wait when heaven is silent?
How do you believe when hope has died?

Fade out of slide
SILENCE

Slow blessing - Aug/Sept04

blesing used as part of the slow service written by anna:

God the creator, who rested on the seventh day after the work was done, show you how to balance the slow and the fast, the work and the rest.

God the redeemer, who lived his life at walking pace,
strengthen you to go slow when the world is going fast.

God the sustainer, who came at Pentecost like a rushing wind, give you hope in the day when there will be freedom from the limitations of time.

Go into a world of speed and live at God’s pace.

Amen.

Slow confession - Aug/Sept 04

confession prayer as part of slow service - written by anna:

O God, you are slow to anger and swift to have mercy;
Forgive us when we treat time as a commodity or an enemy,
when we abuse your gift of time.

In our fastness and our slowness,
help us to keep pace with you.
Free us to live in your time, a new time,
in which there is a time for everything under heaven,
and slow is not too slow, and fast is not too fast.

Transform us into people who see time as a gift and a friend,
who live as if we have time,
because we know that your time will never cease.
Through Jesus we pray, Amen.

Soft Eyes Blessing

may the god who is community
be with us as we seek to be a community

may god bless our dreams
and may god shatter our dreams

may god help us to be real
and to find depth in weakness and brokenness

may god help us to face and grow through conflict
rather than pretend by being nice

may we look at each other through soft eyes
and truly respect each other as human beings

may god help us let go of control
and the need to fix one another

may god help us discover we are needy in our own souls
and give attention to our own hearts

may god grant us the gift of an extraordinary love that flows from the heart of god
that covers a multitude of wrongs

spirit of life

spirit of life
your breath of life fills the whole world and holds all things together.
if you withdraw your breath everything turns to dust

breathe on me breath of god

you are the source of life that brings life to the world, whole life, full life, unhindered, indestructible everlasting life

fill me with life anew

the life of your spirit which christ sends into the world is the power of the resurrection which brings us new life

breathe on me breath of god

the sending of your spirit is the revelation of god's indestructible affirmation of life and marvelous joy in life

fill me with life anew

jesus where you are there is life. where you are sick people are healed, sad people are comforted, marginalised people are accepted and the demons of death are driven out

breathe on me breath of god

where your holy spirit is present there is life.
the powers and energies of eternal life are experienced.

fill me with life anew

the mission of your spirit is a movement for life and a movement for healing which spreads consolation and the courage to live and raises up what wants to die.

breathe on me breath of god

we affirm and love life so much that we protest against death and all the powers that disseminate death.

fill me with life anew

help us to join with your comforting of the sad, healing of the sick, welcoming of strangers, and forgiving of sins.

breathe on me breath of god

send your spirit so that this world should not perish but live

fill me with life anew

spirit of the new creation break into the here and now bringing foretastes of the age to come when all things are made new, and creation is set free from the powers of death

breathe on me breath of god

spirit of god renew the face of the earth

fill me with life anew

give us hearts of flesh for hearts of stone

that we may love as you would love
and do what you would do
amen

St Brendan's Prayer

Shall I abandon, O King of mysteries, the soft comforts of home? Shall I turn my back on my native land, and turn my face towards the sea?

Shall I put myself wholly at your mercy, without silver, without a horse, without fame, without honour? Shall I throw myself wholly upon You, without sword and shield, without food and drink, without a bed to lie on? Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land, placing myself under Your yoke?

Shall I pour out my heart to You, confessing my manifold sins and begging forgiveness, tears streaming down my cheeks? Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach, a record of my final prayer in my native land?

Shall I then suffer every kind of wound that the sea can inflict? Shall I take my tiny boat across the wide sparkling ocean? O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?

O Christ, will You help me on the wild waves?

thanks to mark berry

summer is over

summer is over - new year 06

summer is over
an end to sitting on the fence
a voice beneath your certainties
shakes the settled patterns
like a colder breeze that heralds distant winter

strange lands lie waiting
beyond your southern horizon
summer is over,
and you must go or perish
here in a world no longer yours
or on the way, but in hope
your star and compass often dark
glimpsed briefly between clouds

at journey's end,
another summer not like the first one
new seeds,
new fruit to refresh the migrant
burnt by life between summers
warmed for a season
until the north calls again

like the inner call of the migrating bird, where does god call you?
where is your bird migrating to?
what do you want to do for god?
what do you need along the way?

take one of the sheets of paper and write your hopes and prayers for
the journey ahead on the reverse side, the side without the
instructions. then we're going to fold them to make origami birds...

The table is ready

Welcome to the table!
The table,
eating and drinking,
sharing stories,
laughter and tears,
honest conversation,
being real,
finding a place of acceptance
amongst friends and family
has been at the heart of community and the Christian faith for as long as we know.
Jesus kick started the whole thing when he broke bread and drank wine with his friends.

Thank you for coming to share in this meal, this table today.
September is the start of a new season for Grace.
It's a time when we pause as a community -
pause to consider and commit ourselves afresh to God
pause to consider and commit ourselves afresh to one another
pause to consider and commit ourselves afresh to the ethos which is at the heart of our life together.
What better way to do that than in the context of a community meal?

So close your eyes
take a deep breath and pause...

God we invite you to be present at the table with us
Our companion
Companion means friend but the root of the word 'com panis' means one who breaks bread with another.
You are our companion and bread breaker.
And we gather as friends, companions to break bread with one another.
Thank you for your friendship,
thank you for one another
thank you for Grace
thank you for this food and drink
Be in our midst
In the name of Christ
Amen

Eat, drink, you who hunger and thirst,
For a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world,
For healing and wholeness
The table is ready!

We are creatures of comfort - sept06

We are creatures of comfort.
We like to be safe and secure
to be surrounded by what we know
to be in control
to order our lives in the way that suits us.

We want our journeys mapped out for us
itinerary decided, tickets booked
time of arrival guaranteed
refreshment breaks at regular intervals
and a credit card for unforeseen circumstances.

But Jesus said ‘follow me’ without saying where he was going
just promising transformation along the way.

The Israelites in the desert, rescued from slavery and oppression,
were tired and homeless, hungry and thirsty, insecure and unsettled.
And their minds went back to what they had known.
They yearned for the structure of predictable slavery rather than the broken walls of unknown freedom.

Liminal space is the place of inbetweenness, of insecurity.
It is the Israelites in the wilderness,
it is Paul blind in Damascus waiting for Ananias.
Liminal space is emptiness and nowhere,
it is uncertainty and chaos,
it is a place of discomfort and unrest.
Liminality is a place of dying and rebirth, of metamorphosis, the place where the caterpillar spins its cocoon and disappears from view.

Nothing good or creative emerges from business as usual. Much of the work of God is to get people into liminal space and to keep them there long enough so they can learn something essential.

This is the invitation of God, to move
- from comfort to insecurity
- from what we know to what we have yet to discover
- from what we are good at to what we might fail at
- from safety to a place of risk

We hang our lives on your mercy - feb06

We hang our lives upon your mercy
measured out in miles
your boundaries and pathways,
coordinates and charts
that guide our steps
along roads you travelled before us

We will make time for you and your word
We will practice your ways until they are part of us
We will rest and play in you
We will be your people

We are not complete without one another
We cannot run the race alone

We will support one another
encourage one another
wait for the weak
pick up the fallen
through your strength and love

When we are together we will remember what it is like to travel alone
When we are alone we will remember what it is like to travel together
Wherever we are we will remember God who always goes with us

Go with us now, Lord, this night and always
Amen

What are we waiting for now? Dec 09

What are we waiting for now?

So where are we now – the end of 2009 –Jesus said

‘‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

But in 2009 do we believe or feel or act as if the kingdom of heaven is truly near.

Between the headlines and daily life – where is the kingdom of heaven?
Baghdad security chief sacked over bombs that killed 127 people
‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” 28He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” 29But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’

Copenhagen climate change summit in deadlock over rival texts

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

Big fall in Christmas spending predicted

‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Christmas recipes – how to make perfect canapes

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with* three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

So now we’re going to have another 15 minutes of silence –and there are two questions you might like to think about during that time

What is it I am really waiting for?

How do I need to live now for hope of the kingdom of heaven to come near?

At some point in the 15 minutes you might like to come to the middle and light a candle to hold as a sign of your desire to live in light rather than darkness.

wounded eucharistic prayer

lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god
lift up your heads
we lift them up to god
lift up your voices
we lift them up to god
lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god

we praise you for your unswerving love for us
though we are fragile
though we are wounded
though we are broken
you have never stopped loving us
and you have never forsaken us

greater love has no one than this that they lay down their life for their friends

you take what is broken and transform it through your death and love
what once was hurt
what once was friction
what left a mark
no longer stings
because grace makes beauty
out of ugly things

so we join with the angels singing
holy holy holy
holy holy holy
lord god almighty
lord god almighty
heaven and earth are full of your glory
heaven and earth are full of your glory
hosanna in the highest
hosanna in the highest

in your last meal with your friends
before your betrayal
you took the bread and gave thanks
you broket is and shared it saying 'take and eat. this is my body broken for you'

christ's body is broken
we are christ's body, we are broken
may christ's broken body nourish you in all the right places

you took the cup of wine, gave thanks and shared it saying
'drink this, my blood shed for you'

christ's body is wounded
we are christ's body, we are wounded
may the blood that flowed from christ's wounds heal you in all the right places

send your holy spirit on us
heal our brokenness
by showing us our place in your community of faith
great is the mystery of faith
christ has died
christ is risen
christ will come again

this is the table of christ
today it is literally made of our brokenness
a sign that christ welcomes us all as we are
there is no need to pretend and no need to hide

so gather at this table
not because you are whole
but because you recognise your need for healing
not because you are good enough
but because you recognise these gifts of god

yearn blessing

may the extravagant love of god the father
fill your hearts and minds and his embrace hold you
when you feel unworthy to be called his son or daughter

may the friendship of jesus christ your brother
rid you of any notion that you are only a slave
and you find your home in and with him in his kingdom

may the spirit of god release you
from a world of duty
so that a new joy and freedom wells up in your life

go and reconfigure the world as on order of embrace
in your friendships
in your work place
in your families
in your street
and in your churches

and the blessing of god the father, the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you always
amen

yearn communion prayer

lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god
lift up your heads
we lift them up to god
lift up your voices
we lift them up to god
lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god

god of watching thank you
You gave us life, love and freedom
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that when we reject your friendship
leave home
spend our inheritance
find ourselves in exile
are weak and broken, with lives full of regret
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that when we reject your generosity
resent your welcome of sinners,
find that home is not the place we thought it was
ask you when you have ever thrown a party for us.
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that you reconfigure the world as an order of embrace
where mercy triumphs over judgement,
so we join with the angels singing
holy holy holy
lord god almighty
heaven and earth are full of your glory
hosanna in the highest

the answer is in a story
and the story is unfolding…

on the night he was betrayed christ took bread, broke is and gave it to his friends saying take eat this is my body which is broken for you.
after supper he took the cup saying drink this all of you. this is my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. do this to remember me. send down your spirit on these gifts of bread and wine that they may be to us christ’s body and blood.

the answer is in a story and the story is being told...
christ has died
christ is risen
christ will come again

through his rising again the world is reconfigured
tucked between the atoms of the places where we walk
the kingdom of god is at hand
the kingdom of god is here
the kingdom of god is home.

so come to the table of christ.

you who see the younger son in you,
who feel confined by home
you who are in exile
you who have fucked it up
you who yearn for home
come to this table, where home is welcoming and home is freedom.
come to the one whose watchfulness is steady and whose arms are open wide

you who see the elder son in you,
who have stayed at home
you who find it all very unfair
you who resent god’s justice,
you who have done your duty, and feel undervalued,
you who wish you’d run away, and somehow never managed it
come to this table, where home is generosity and home keeps no record of wrongs
come to the one who is always near, who would always kill the fatted calf for you.

Services

Welcome to the growing archive of Grace services and events.

As we slowly trawl through our brains, email accounts and hard drives we aim to try and collect together the plans for services, some of the liturgy, rituals and images we created and maybe a record of how it went, or just some good memories.

Organised by date, you'll find it's grouped by September to September years. Why? it's just always the way we've done things - maybe the whole school year thing is too embedded in our brains, maybe it's because we've always taken August off, maybe it's because we go to Greenbelt in August and that feels like the end of one year and the start of the next.

Enjoy exploring.

1993 - 1994

another test

test

1994 - 1995

1995 - 1996

1996 - 1997

Dec 96 - God in the House - TV

Grace took part in the Channel 4 series 'God in the house'

This aired at 12:30pm on 30th Dec.

Jan 97 - Hell

Feb 97 - Heaven

Mar 97 - Wonder

With Guest speaker Mike Starkey(?)

Apr 97 - Celtic Communion

May 97 - Fire

Jun 97 - Water

Jul 97 - Earth

Aug 97 - Grace album and video

The Grace Album and Video were released in Aug 1997

Aug 97 - Greenbelt

1997 - 1998

Sep 97 - Fragile beauty

Oct 97 - Harvest

Order of service:

1. Intro - 'invitation to the feast'

2. Thoughts from Mike Riddell 'alt.spirit@metro.m3' pp51-56

3. Songs - 'Heal me', 'Calm Me O Lord' [from the Grace album]

4. A time of confession - including Isaiah 55:1-2

'everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no meny, come, buy and eat!
come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?
and labour for that which does not satisfy?
listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.'

a prayer of confession:

we have been taught that possessions and prosperity go hand in hand.
for the times when we have believed it, forgive us lord. [all: forgive us lord]

while we know that we cannot earn your blessings, we have been taught that we are shameful and do not deserve to be blessed. for the times when we have believed it, forgive us lord. [all: forgive us lord]

we have been taught that your hand is an empty, angry fist. for the times when we have believed it, forgive us lord. [all: forgive us lord]

we have failed to recognise that our worth comes from the fact that you find us worth loving, you find us worth dying for. yet we have been taught to expect little or nothing from you. for the times when we have believed it, forgive us lord. [all: forgive us lord]

we have, at times, been sold a model of ourselves as perfectly self-reliant, and we have built upon it, shutting out others, and in doing so, we have shut you out as well. forgive us lord. [all: forgive us lord]

be with us tonight lord and reassure us that you are both giver and forgiver. please bless us with a richness that money cannot buy, in jesus' name. amen

5. Ritual of reflection:

set up around the church are five areas, each with different foods or objects. these symbolise the richness of the feast of life in god. each area symbolises a different issue in life, for meditation while sitting at these areas. you may go to all the areas or just stay in one place.

at the first three areas please taste the foods as you would partake of god's gifts.

the stations:

wine - the wine symbolises the joy that god pours into our lives. not an occasional emotional experience, it is a basic part of a relationship with god. 'the chief end of man is to glorify god and to enjoy him for ever.' [scottish shorter catechism]

bread - the bread is symbolic of justice, the justice needed in this world. everything that we have belongs to god, and is there so that we may share it with others. are we a begrudging people? do we share easily?

milk and honey - to represent the things in our lives that god gives to us which we cannot buy. what are these things in your life?

god, what are we like? - at this place we reflect on how me-centred we can become. we live in a coutnry so rich that we can afford leisure time, within a world so overflowing with people that, for most, harvest is never enough. and yet our god made an earth with more seeds than can possibly be fertilised.

a place of invitation - here you might think of another person who you would like to experience god's feast in a greater. this is a place of invitation for people in need of society, inclusion, love or any of the many blessings of heaven. you might light a candle for this person. [the congregation assembled dinner place settings on the altar, with candelabra etc. the results were so beautiful that we were reluctant to take it down after the service. "does anybody have a camera to record it?" we said, but nobody did. as a result of this, steve collins bought a camera and started to photograph alt worship services to create smallfire.org]

this section of the service will take about 20 minutes.

6. Songs - 'Wild Hope', 'My Heart is Restless', 'Patrick's Breastplate'

7. Reading - the parable of the banquet

8. Intercession - prayers to include the positive and negative, possibly some 'harvest of skills' put together during the time of intercession. intersperse prayers with the taize chant 'o lord hear my prayer'

9. Songs - 'Healing thing', 'All things made new'

10. Blessing/final thoughts

Nov 97 - labyrinth

LOPE (Live on Planet Earth) joined us to run a labyrinth. This was a service which they had developed at their home church in Kent. It was the basis for the St. Paul's Cathedral labyrinth of 2000 and after.

There were four 'stations' focussing on our relationship with God, Others, Ourselves and the Planet, of which the labyrinth is the 'God' one. The idea was for people to visit each of the stations, in between they can just chill out, sitting outside the labyrinth. The labyrinth itself took between 10 - 20 minutes for each person to go round but there were loads of people on at the same time.

The main themes for the labyrinth itself were:
'centering ourselves on God'
'letting go' / 'shedding'
'journey'

These were explained along with a general chat about what is going on right at the beginning, this was to explain what will be happening, what people can do and to set their minds at rest. There was also a short meditation at this stage to get people relaxed.

The only other things happening were an overarching meditation and two or three set piece songs that the band did - they went on in the background, people could either use it, if they were just chilling out, or ignore it. They drew the themes together and the meditation incorporated various appropriate Bible readings.

Before entering the labyrinth, people had their feet washed. They then walked the labyrinth barefoot, and there were soft and rough textures to walk on to symbolise aspects of our life journey.

written material on the labyrinth path

The inward journey:

As you move towards the centre of the labyrinth begin by confessing and letting go of things that hinder your relationship with God. This stage is also about shedding images or projections of yourself so that you can be real with God. Let go of what other people think you should be, their expectations of you, their projections. As you journey, empty yourself, peel away the layers - grow by subtraction. Prepare your inner self - the you of you - to meet with God.

Think of hurtful things people have done or said to you. Draw a symbol or write a word to describe this....

Jesus said, if you let go of the hurtful things people do to you - so God will also let go of the hurtful things you do. Carry the symbol with you for a while as you journey...

Think carefully. Are you willing to 'let go' of the things people have done or said to you? If you are, place the symbol in the bin and let go of it as god lets go of the hurtful things you do.

Think of things you do - patterns of behaving that you know are harmful to your relationship with God, others, yourself or planet Earth. Draw a symbol or write something that symbolises those things.

If you are honest with yourself and God, if you really want to let go of these things... "If we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn 1v9) God will help you to move on. Carry your symbol for a while and think about it.

Look at your symbol. Do you want to take it with you? Or do you want to let it go? If you want to let it go - throw it in the bin. Let it go and move on.

Read the passage from Douglas Coupland's book and think about what you would do if the power failed. (Pg 100ish in 'Polaroids')

The centre of the labyrinth:

At the centre of the labyrinth is that point where we symbolically meet with God. Please spend some time here. Relax. Enjoy God's presence. Meditate on God. Commune with God.

The outward journey:

As you journey back out of the labyrinth take your encounter with God with you. Reflect on how this encounter might affect or change you. John said that God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood - think about how you might allow God to be made flesh in your life and in your neighbourhood.

Walk through the stones. Feel the sandpaper. Stand on the cotton wool. Feel the texture. In what ways does this remind you of your journey?

What boundaries do you need to pass through?

Which of your abilities are you neglecting?

Look around and notice. Even though they may be at different stages, others are on this journey too.

As you approach the end of the labyrinth think about God who has been the host for this part of your journey. If God asked you to fill in a guest book - what would your comments be? Please fill in the book with your response to God, your host.

Dec 97 - Christmas Celebration

'you're not alone' plays. the space is fairly dark and sparse.

everyone is given some mulled wine and an unlit candle as they arrive. encourage a time of chatting etc. one candle in the middle of the space.

song: 'author of creation' [bring in some lights]

an advent adventure - readings and thoughts [waiting/prophetic readings from isaiah and others] [dave]

song: 'o come emanuel'

facts - thoughts around luke 1:1-4 [mike]

birth - based on reading from 'the book of god' by walter wangerin, and a meditation about mary [bevan]

lighting of candles [william orbit track 'the story of light'] - light from big candle passed from candle to candle

flesh - readings and thoughts about jesus as a boy/youth ['you are the source' plays over the readings] [steve]

song: 'he became poor' [from the grace album]

response/intercession including 'motherhood' poem. personal response by putting candle onto map:

god's messenger poem - thankyou for entering into our world (moving into the neighbourhood)
which neighbourhoods do we ask god to move into this christmas?
put candles on maps

song: 'patrick's breastplate'

blessing/final thoughts - from late late service - love received & love given poem

Jan 98 - Angels

Grace 11 January 1998

ANGELS
Running order :

1. Introduction
A happy new year from Grace and a brief intro to the theme. Start by using a few examples of angels from the Christmas story.

[Mike]

2. Song(s)

3. Meditation

[Ana/Kevin]

MEDITATION

Close your eyes and take a deep breath
Hold your breath - maybe count to five and release it
Listen to the rythmns of your body
Hear your heart beat
hear your breathing
Relax and enjoy just being

Imagine yourself at home
Picture where you are and who is with you
Imagine other people in your home with you
Look around - what is it like?
Imagine that relaxed feeling when you dont feel you 'have' to talk
Enjoy the atmosphere
How do you feel?

Now imagine the doorbell rings
You answer it and outside are some people you have never met before
But they seem to know you
What are you going to do?
Do you want to invite them in?
How are you going to react to them?
The story unfolds

You invite them in and the atmosphere becomes tense
They obviously know things about you but you still dont know who they are
Your mind is racing and you feel a sense of panic

Now you find out that they are angels?
And they tell you something amazing and seemingly impossible was going to
happen to you
What might that amazing and impossible thing be?
Would you believe them?
How do your friends react?

Now let the story unfold.

__________________

4. ‘Ambiguity’- bring together some biblical texts and explore different interpretations which have been suggested. text here

[Steve]

5. Opportunity for group discussion, with the chance to report back and to create some artifact. Discussion points :
What are angels like ?
What’s their job ?
Do we have a guardian angel ? If so - why ?
Have you ever encountered an angel (opportunity for stories to be shared, some to be planted to be used if necessary inc. Pete Freeman)

[Jonny/Jenny]

6. Art installation. A collage of photographs etc. Groups will have the opportunity to contribute a physical artifact to the installation. Text available to include Matthew 18:10 - a key text yet one which is overlooked/tactically ignored.
[Dave]

7. Song(s)

8. Story - ‘Horse and his boy (Unwelcome fellow traveller)’ , an upbeat and joyful end to the service.

[Mike]

9. A catholic blessing

[Dave]

Feb 98 - Lent

as people arrive, film answers to 'who are you?' and 'what are you addicted to?' [mark]

t.v.s - have two ideas running for the whole service - one t.v./projector with images of the busyness/ noise we live with (shopping channel, traffic, sped up people etc.) - the other with still images or a word sequence slowly changing (quiet, still, calm, repose.....).

also have an oscilloscope (mike to get hold of one) running all service to monitor the noise - have a camera on it to project it [mark]

1. intro/welcome... thoughts about usual approach to lent.... brief/light... [jonny]

2. read/retell story of jesus in the wilderness and his temptations [jen]

3. desert reading/meditation - simple idea that many characters in the bible spent time in the wilderness, so for us when either we choose to go into the wilderness or find ourselves feeling like we're in a desert we're in good company.. 'you're not alone' [mike]

consider the process jesus went through, the kind of steps and the importance/inspiration/challenge they might be for us

4. stepping back/getting away from the usual noise. [mark]

perhaps surprising for life in a peasant culture, but if needed then what about in london?
story about internal and external noise (from 'alt.spirit@metro.m3' by mike riddell)

5. discussion in groups - what is the noise we live with? external and internal? do we know how to stop? are we afraid to stop? thomas merton reading on noise..... [dave]

6. songs: 'calm me o lord', 'i will wait'

7. fasting/emptying - one of things about fasting is that you begin to realise what your addictions are and what you are driven by ('reach for creature comforts for the filling of our holes' as peter gabriel put it) .... perhaps some comments from 'celebration of discipline'?...

playback voxpops recorded at start of service

what are we addicted to? [kev and ana]

8. song: 'my heart is restless'

9. identity - what is the you of you? [steve]

10. refer back to vox pops - how many descriptions of who we are relate to what we do?.... can you hear god's affirmation?
have some affirmations/texts written on paper (jen to write them out) buried in a tray of sand.
everyone takes one (finding identity in desert?!) - time to take it in [steve and dave]

11. focussing on calling - where are you going.... easy to just carry on without reflecting on the way we live individually, corporately, nationally, globally... jesus came back into life focussed for next three years.... what does it mean to follow christ then?... story about whether to keep car from 'fearfully and wonderfully weird' - what would you do?/should a christian drive a porsche?... mention shaker pledge and slides that have been up and will be up as one response [jonny]

12. song: 'counter to the culture'

13. blessing - give everyone copies of shaker pledge and adbusters credo as two focussed responses to take away and use (and discuss at pub next time?...). thomas merton quotes from late late service of only reason for stepping back from life being to live more fully etc.... [dave]

The wise monk, Thomas Merton, said that we must only leave the world to learn to love it more. We must only leave behind needy people in order to become more committed to serving them. We must only embrace celibacy in order to deepen our love for men and women and ourselves. We must only vow poverty as a way of learning to see the true value in the world. We must only “waste time” with God as a way of discovering what the time of our lives is for.

shakertown pledge and adbusters media manifesto

The Shakertown Pledge

Recognising that the Earth and the fullness thereof is a gift from our gracious God, and that we are called to cherish, nurture, and provide loving stewardship for the Earth’s resources,
and recognising that life itself is a gift, and a call to responsibility, joy and celebration,
I make the following declarations:

I declare myself to be a world citizen.
I commit myself to an ecologically sound life.
I commit myself to lead a life of creative simplicity and to share my personal wealth with the world’s poor.
I commit myself to join with others in reshaping institutions in order to bring about a more just global society in which each person has full access to the needed resources for their physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth.
I commit myself to occupational accountability, and in so doing I will seek to avoid the creation of products which cause harm to others.
I affirm the gift of my body, and commit myself to its proper nourishment and physical well-being.
I commit myself to examine continually my relations with others, and to attempt to relate honestly, morally, and lovingly to those around me.
I commit myself to personal renewal through prayer, meditation and study.
I commit myself to responsible participation in a community of faith.

Media Manifesto (by Adbusters)

We will take on the archetypal mind polluters--- Marlboro, Budweiser, Benetton, Coke, McDonald's, Calvin Klein -- and beat them at their own game.

We will uncool their billion dollar images with uncommercials on TV, subvertisements in magazines and anti-ads right next to theirs in the urban landscape.

We will take control of the role that the tobacco, alcohol, fashion, cosmetics, food and automobile corporations play in our lives. We will hold their marketing strategies up to public scrutiny and set new agendas in their industries.

We will culture jam the pop culture marketeers -- MTV, Time Warner, Sony -- and bring their image factories to a sudden, shuddering halt.

On the rubble of the old media culture, we will build a new one with a non-commercial heart and soul.

Mar 98 - Alone in the Crowd

Rationale :

The service sits between, and is linked to, the service about lent and the Easter communion service. It’s focus is about personal choice; whether to go with the crowd or to take the more difficult course of action - the narrow gate. In our preparation for Easter, we look at two occasions in which crowds were very important. Firstly the crowd in Jerusalem as Barrabas is freed, the same crowd who had welcomed Jesus so recently. Secondly we see Jesus alone in a crowd as his disciples sleep.

The service includes a section in which people make a short meditative journey. This section will be quite lengthy and similar in nature to the labyrinth in as much as people can lead themselves through at their own pace.

Running order (songs to be added later):

1. As people arrive there is a signpost near the door. At the front, at the end of the central aisle there is a ‘wide gate’ erected through which people will pass. Matthew 7 : 13&14 is displayed on the screen.

2. Images of loneliness (use slide and video) - an introduction to the theme which explores (briefly) the difference between solitude and loneliness and relates the service to both lent and Easter. Mark will refer back to the Shakertown pledge etc from the last service and explore the whole notion of making decisions and having decisions made for us.

3. Group identity - a psalm (to be decided)

4. In the crowd. Reading from Mark 11 followed by a meditation focussing on the crowd in Jerusalem.

5. Jesus alone in the crowd - reading from Jesus’ perspective at the Mount of Olives on the night of His betrayal. He was tempted to take the easy route, even more so perhaps than we discussed at the last service.

6. Guided meditation. There is the opportunity for everyone at the service to focus on the wide and narrow gates. The wide gate can be ‘adorned’ with words/pictures from magazines etc which are people’s views as to what is keeping them from entering through the narrow gate. Along the side aisle there will be lots of card footprints and displays of biblical text leading to the narrow gate through which is a chalice and some bread to symbolise the gifts of heaven.

This section of the service will need careful introduction to relate it to the rest of the service. This is not about people making life-changing decisions but about accepting that wherever we are in our relationship with God we often take the easy route when faced with decisions.

Key texts :

Mark 10:25 Romans 8:17&18 Matthew 16:24-26 Matthew 6:19-23 Matthew 10:21 Matthew 5:48 Matthew 5:8&9 Matthew 7:13&14 Matthew 5:3-6 Matthew 5:10&11 Matthew 6:25 Matthew 6:33 Matthew 6:24 Matthew 5 43&44

Barrabas crowd meditation

you are in a hot dusty land, nearly two thousand years ago. for many years you have been told to wait in expectation for the messiah, the christ. over the past couple of years friends have taken you to hear this man called jesus. something about him, som of the words he has spoken, some of the things you have seen him do, have left you strangely moved. recently he has been less popular, derided by those around you. late into the evening he has remained the topic of conversation, a madman from galilee no-one seems able to forget. some say he is the long-awaited christ. you look back to a week ago. you were out in the marketplace when everyone converged on the road leading into jerusalem. "jesus is coming", came the cry. swept along with the crowd, hoping this was the promised saviour, you remember pushing forward to catch a glimpse, not quite sure why you are there. it seemed this man had become the hope of a nation. was he a king or a fool?

suddenly a man pushes against you, bringing you back to the present moment. you push against the sweaty, pushing bodies around you, jostling to keep a sense of space. you are in the same crowd. friends, zealots, religious leaders, fishermen, tax collectors, lawyers, it seems as if the whole of jerusalem is here. you hear mutterings. some are confused like you, not sure why they are here, but sensing a momentous event is about to happen. others are huddled together conspiratorially to one side. you see friends and wonder why they are here. but doesn't everyone follow the crowd, aren't the crowd always right.

you are standing outside a resplendent building. looking upwards you see a man you hate and fear. like most jews you resent the oppression of the roman occupying forces, long for the promised messiah to set your nation free. with him is the same man the crowd worshipped a week ago. your heart sinks. this man is not going to set your nation free, he's now a roman prisoner. the crowd surges forward. as they do you notice those who had been huddled to one side, disperse themselves among the rest of the crowd. the man called jesus is beaten and scarred. as you strain your eyes to see jesus more clearly you can see someone has forced what looks like a crown of thorns on his head. you sense the disappointment and frustration of a nation is directed at jesus. the roman governor asks the crowd what he should do with a man he can find guilty of no crime.

a babble of noise erupts around you. some are confused, what else cn you do with an innocent man, other than letting him go. others say he has broken religious laws which the romans cannot understand. you try to examine your own feelings. suddenly the crowd is no longer a homogenous place to be. you feel hemmed in, unable to think for yourself.

the cry "crucify, crucify" begins jsut behind you. it becomes louder and louder as others take up the cry. confused, you look around you as more join in the cry. the roman governor motions and silence falls over the crowd. you wait in anticipation. he offers to free one prisoner. should it be jesus?

you feel the shock move from your gut to the rest of your body as some begin to call for barrabas, a local terrorist and murderer who had shocked jerusalem, to be freed. surely we can't release him instead of this innocent man. unsure as you are of jesus, he couldn't be any worse that such a lowlife. could he?

the shout of crucify begins again. it seems as if hysteria has taken over, this crowd is baying for blood. your head is spinning, confusion reigns. maybe he has done something to incite this hatred. caught up in the frenzy you too begin to call "crucify, crucify". it feels good to be in the majority, you begin to feel an identity with the crowd. zealots, lawyers, friends, the crowd has become one. anger and frustration well up inside you. your voice becomes stronger until you feel completely at one with those around you.

the man is grabbed to be taken away. as he turns away he looks out on the crowd. you are drawn to his eyes and they seem to bore straight into you. in them you see understanding, compassion and purpose. in that moment all the things you have seen and heard about this man make sense, except it's too late, he's going to be crucified. as a chill runs down your spine you feel... alone in the crowd.

[mike rose]

Apr 98 - Jesus without Nails

SONG

MEDITATION

'Jesus without nails' - includes explanations of the pieces of art, slides showing images of life with and without nails etc

LAMENTATION / CONFESSION :
(Leader)
As we draw near to the place of at-one-ment:
Give us tears to see the wonder of Your presence;
Give us tears to see the wasting of Your people,
Give us tears to see the wounding of Your Son.

(All -)
We are the race that helped make the wood on which You were crucified, and still we misuse Your creation;
We are the race that helped make the nails that pierced Your body, yet still we use work for gain at others' expense;
We are the race that did nothing to stop Your betrayers, yet still we are ruled by comfort or cowardice.

Nails are hammered into pieces of wood

SONG: 'Wash me clean'

THE PEACE :
The opportunity for absolution and sharing of the peace. People cross each others foreheads with water and the phrase 'Through the cross we are forgiven'

SONG: 'I Believe'

INTERCESSION :

THE OFFERING : (Bread and wine brought to the table - a carpenter's bench)
(Leader)
We bless You, High King of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become our spiritual food and drink.

As we bring this bread to You, we offer also: our energies and creating; our relationships and achieving; the sap of life rising; the seeds of life flowering; the resources of life acquiring; the fun of life enjoying; the raw materials of life building; the intelligence of life organising; the feelings of life communicating. You who put ear in corn, take these ordinary things and transform them into the glory of Your presence.

We pour out this wine and offer to You the woes of life outpouring; the waning powers of life, the diseases and disappointments; the hurts and the handicaps; failures caused by our stupidity or by circumstances beyond our control. As grapes are crushed to make the wine, so we offer all who are crushed by hunger or loneliness, violence or abuse. You who put beam into sun and moon, take all this and transform it into the deep, rich wine of everlasting life.

SONG : Lift up your hearts

THE EUCHARIST :
(Leader)
High King of the universe, who sustains the worlds, who brought forth the earth; You breathe wisdom into all your creatures, till we reflect Your three-fold friendship. In our pain and sorrow we cry out to You, Tender Lamb, slain before the world began, perfect sacrifice for our sins. Grant that by the power of the Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine may be for us His body and blood who, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, gave You thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying : Take, eat, this is My body which is given for you. After supper He took the cup, gave You thanks, and said to them : this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Me.

SONG :(All - words on slide)
Christ has died !
Christ is risen !
Christ will come again !

THE INVITATION :

This is the table not of the church, but of the Lord.
It is to be made ready for those who love Him and who want to love Him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little.
You who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time.
You who have tried to follow and you who have failed.

Come. Not because I invite you; it is our Lord.
It is His will that those who want Him should meet Him here.

Use your eyes and your heart.
Here is your Lord coming to you in bread and wine.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
Draw near with faith.
Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which He gave for you, and His blood which He shed for you.
Eat and drink in remembrance that he died for you, and feed on Him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

SHARING THE BREAD AND WINE :
'Easter Song [by A Man Called Adam]' and 'I lift my cup' played over suitable video images with the words on the screens.

MEDITATION:

'Walk On By' - a journey which explores what might have been without the resurrection of our Lord

SONG: 'And Death Has No Dominion' [from the Grace CD] and 'Thine Be The Glory'

A BLESSING :

includes an invitation for people to collect a nail and take it away as a symbol of the truth

(All - words on slide)

May the power and the mystery go before us,
to show us the way,
shine above us to lighten our world,
lie beneath us to bear us up,
walk with us and give us companionship,
and glow and flow within us to bring us joy. Amen.

May 98 - Whose alternative?

This service was a follow-up to the 'Reimagining Worship' conference of that weekend in Hackney.

photos here

1. welcome

2. songs:

'adoramus te domine'
'bless the lord my soul'
steve's psalm read over music

3. reflection on god from psalm 34 - taste and see that the lord is good; god hears/listens to our frustrations and desires; god delivers and changes
(jenny)

4. prayer with incense (o lord hear my prayer loop)
(dave)

5. report back on weekend and story of grace to now
(mike)

6. what is the way forward? questionnaires and groups - refreshments during this bit
(dave)

7. core group feeling need for more. what about you - groups and feedback
(jonny)

8. prayer
(steve)

9. song: 'i bind unto myself today'

analysis of questionnaire returns

grace questionnaires 10/5/98

some analysis

34 questionnaires filled in as follows:
1 vicar
4 grace team
5 from lbc
3 from gillingham who heard about grace at spring harvest
7 a youth group from sunbury-on-thames who heard about grace at brainstormers creative worship day
4 from st. mary's
4 others who live in ealing but worship elsewhere
1 ruislip
1 heathrow
1 west twyford
1 croydon
2 sussex

ages:
0-13 1 (baby)
14-18 8
19-25 9
26-35 7
36-45 6
46-55 4
56+ 0

29 out of 34 said grace was a supplement to other church activities
note - everyone not on the team was involved in regular church activity elsewhere

familiar faces:
paul wainwright
pete clouston
pete freeman
neil hopkins

6 want to get more involved:
neil hopkins [ideas, help set up, open house for those in nw london (?)]
3 other lbc attendees [one-off services, youth camps etc] [keyboards] [art, words, singing]
paul wainwright [ideas, songwriting]
one of the sunbury youth group [lighting]

things people want us to do more of:
wider/more publicity
small groups/social functions

congregation's questions to grace

On the questionnaire we asked, 'Is there anything you'd like to ask us?' Here are some of those questions, with our replies.

If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?

If you did a morning service would it take a different format?
The visuals would be a problem due to the daylight, but the general format and methods would work. The atmosphere would be different - would meditation work well without low light conditions?

Do you write/invent the stories/ideas etc - if not where do you get them?
Much of the stuff we do write or invent ourselves, but we also quote directly from a wide variety of sources including Mike Riddell, Douglas Coupland, Thomas Merton, Celtic liturgy and poetry both ancient and modern, CS Lewis, and traditional Anglican practice and writing. Of course what we do is also informed by all the Christian activities we have been involved in, services we have been to, theology we have read, music, magazines, television, film etc...and our experiences in life.

Is alternative worship actually becoming the new mainstream?
Not yet it isn't. We should be so lucky.

How do you become more inclusive and less led from up front?
If we had a bigger proportion of the congregation involved as part of the team there would be less of the same faces and voices. We are also considering forms of service which could run themselves to a greater degree - at the moment it is necessary to guide people through what is going on. We always try to include activities and discussions that the congregation can do without intervention from the front, and can give feedback on, but inevitably there has to be some leadership to give direction and shape, and to provide the stuff that has to be prepared earlier.

Is there room here for people who want to celebrate life and worship God, but who don't necessarily believe that Jesus is more important than any other 'enlightened mystic'?
Yes, but we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son, so you won't agree with everything we say or do.

Is the girl with long blonde hair single and what is her phone number?
I'm sorry I can't tell you that.

Why are there so many things in St. Mary's for me to knock over?
There aren't - you're just clumsy.

Is it usual to have these feelings about the other members of the group?
Yes, entirely. Come and see me about it later.

questionnaire for congregation

This was handed out to the congregation at 'Whose alternative?' We were trying to get a feel for where we were and where we should aim to go.

your age?

your sex?

alone or in a group?

where do you come to grace from?

why do you come?

how did you hear about us?

is grace your only church experience or is it a supplement to other church activities?

what is your main source of spiritual input?

where do you find god in the world?

what would you like to see grace doing?

would you like to get more involved in grace? [for example: ideas, music, helping set up and take down, slides, video, lighting etc]

is there anything you'd like to ask us?

quotations for slides

'culture is not a means to an end for christians to use to get people into heaven. it is the purpose of their creation and re-creation'
graham cray

'the gospel must be constantly forwarded to a new address because the recipient is repeatedly changing his/her place of residence'
helmut thieliche

'the life experience of young people in modern industrialsed societies has changed quite significantly over the last two decades'
finlay and cartmel

'how we consume is an integral part of the kind of person we are and the kind of person we present to the wider world'
wyn and white

'the spirituality of our culture has a motor of addiction - so if we don't disciple well we produce christian consumers not culture transformers'
graham cray

'choice is at the centre of consumerism, both as emblem and core value'
gabriel and lang

'it is the characteristic of our age that there is little sense of community, of any real sense of history, as the present is all that matters'
jon savage (the face)

'if the savings book was the epitomy of modern life, then the credit card is the paradigm of the postmodern one'
zygmunt bauman

''i'm a non religious person looking for a religious experience'
chris carter (x files writer)

'the church is bottom of the confidence ratings for those under 35 but ranks third (out of thirteen institutions) for those over 50.'
european values survey

'the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood'
john (gospel writer)

'artists express the soul of a culture'
dean borgman

'music is the breath of god breezing out into the universe'
mike riddell

'the drugs don't work'
the verve

'it's a bittersweet symphony this life
trying to make ends meet you're a slave to money then you die.....

i'm a million different people from one day to the next...

i never pray but tonight i'm on my knees
i need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me'
the verve

'they ask where the hell i'm going at 1000 ft per second
hey man slow down! idiot slow down!'
radiohead

'there ain't no real truth
there ain't no real light
keep on pushing because i know it's there.....
i just can't make it alone'
the verve

'life is instantly repackaged as advertising or cartoon, as tabloid drama or household brand'
the face (essay on nineties)

'perhaps one of the things the nineties has been about is the search for authenticity as opposed to all these disneylands'
the face (essay on nineties)

'if it's the real thing we're wanting just where do we find it? the nineties quest for life and some sort of authenticity coupled with a gradual loss of faith in the capacity of big and beliefs to save our souls has led us to make up our own truths, build our own small worlds as best we can'
the face (essay on nineties)

'what is there left to believe in? only yourself, your friends, your humour, your obsessions, your idea of a good time, your idea of what matters. and the great thing about the nineties is that your idea can matter'
the face

'if there's a key to the nineties i think it's that perpetual insecurity. never have peple thought so hard about their lives and come to such indecision or felt further apart..... if there's going to be an epitaph for the nineties it will be 'by the ned we all felt like victims''
damon albarn (blur)

'we inhabit a civilisation of crumbling confidence, in which it is hard to be sure of anything'
felipe fernandez-armesto

'an evangelist must respect the culture of a people not destroy it. the incarnation of the gospel, the flesh and blood which must grow on the gospel is up to the people of a culture'
vincent donavon

'perhaps it is unsurprising that many christians perceive the emerging culture as the enemy and look for ways to protect themselves against it. but faith requires risk'
mike riddell

'in recent decades we have passed like alice slipping through the looking glass into a new world'
walter anderson

'post modern simply says that the previous culture 'modernism' is at an end and something else is emerging to take its place'
mike riddell

'the greatest barrier to the gospel in contemporary western culture is the church'
mike riddell

'culture is a living thing which can only be developed from within. it can not be imposed from above'
pete ward

'the world looks suspiciously like a 20 channel satellite t.v. with a madman holding the remote control: before you have time to make sense of the story, the screen beams other images, to be replaced with yet other images, before you begin to know what they are images of; and all comes from nowhere and melts back into nowhere again'
zygmunt bauman

'remember at the start of the decade it being pronounced that these would be the caring nineties in direct reaction to the materialistic eighties? well, excuse us while we bathe in frothy irony and knock back our 'testosterone and black', but it hasn't happened yet'
miranda sawyer (the face)

'the postmodern refers above all to the exhaustion of the modern'
david lyon

'we emerge from our mother's womb an unformatted diskette: our culture formats us'
douglas coupland (polaroids from the dead)

'you're born; you live; you run around a bit; you die; so you might as well look foxy while you're doing it'
frontier clothes shop

Jun 98 - Spirit

photos here

the service will be in two parts. the first will be a mix of readings about the spirit from the bible and songs. the readings will not be huge chunks, rather a few verses with plenty of space for people to reflect and contemplate these scriptures. the second will be a response that involves visiting three stations/areas.

section 1

1. introduction/welcome.... explain outline of evening, introductory thoughts, and prayer [jen]

2. readings from the old testament [dave]

3. song - 'mighty wind' [from the grace album]

4. readings from the new testament [steve]

5. song - 'come holy spirit' [from the grace album]

6. video scroll of words to do with pentecost [mark]

section 2

1. wind station
in the side chapel we will enclose the space with muslin/drapes with images projected on them. inside will be a couple of fans blowing. this is a space for personal prayer. people go in and ask to be filled with the spirit and stay in as long as they like

2. fire station (nee naa nee naa)
in the room used by cyfa we will have three televisons with the flames flickering. a tape will play a retelling of the story of pentecost in acts 2. people sit in the middle of the flames and imagine the story and give thanks for the gift of the spirit.

3. trinity station
we didn't decide where this would be (main area?/between choir stalls?). we will set up a whirly bird clothes line (one of those triangular rotary lines). the three sides symbolise the trinity. we will also have a television with a video of washing in a machine. this station is a place to reflect on the relationship of the father, son and spirit to the world. there will be some things made and hung on the trinitarian whirlybird before the service and at the station people create things/write prayers etc to hang on the line.

4. we will also make available a list of the scriptures that were read in section 1 and a pile of bibles for anyone wanting to sit and read them during this time.

5. final blessing - when everyone is back together we will close with a final blessing/prayer e.g. 'send us out in the power of your spirit........'

tasks for the stations:
mark will redo the pentecost scroll, do the washing video, work out how to get some more televisions and video players for the service, and borrow some fans from work
dave will try and get a whirlybird and base, contact kev and ana and come up between them with what will happen at this station
jonny and mike will record a tape of the pentecost story with appropriate music....
jen will get a couple of mini kites
mike will make a couple of triangular frames with muslin in to hang to project on

Jul 98 - Life

1. intro - words about bringing senses & culture into worship [mike] - light candles

2. three personal stories of people's experience of God in their lives - one through bad times [steve], one through good times, one in the everyday.

3. exploration of jesus' humanity - blank postcards with things people do in life written on them - laugh/cry/get angry/road rage/have favorites/get drunk etc. get people into small groups, hand random bunches of these cards out and ask people to discuss whether they think jesus ever did any of them. some cards will have a bible reference on the back if it exists, others will simply ask the question 'do you think jesus did/felt this?'

4. meditation [one recently written by dave] on the pleasures & pains of human life & the presence of God in all these leading into a time of reflection on our own lives

5. more blank postcards handed out - people asked to imagine the course/pattern of their lives so far as colours, drawn with paints/crayons etc on the postcards. when people have drawn the colours of their lives they are invited to pin them up on a board at the front so we can see the communal pattern of colours. [steve will donate his huge collection of coloured pencils to help this]

6. then people invited to come up and take & eat two elements, one bitter, one sweet, to symbolise their acceptance of the presence of the two in our lives and of all that God sends [dave][music - 'bittersweet symphony' the verve]

7. leading into closing prayers from team re God is always with us in the good times [when we forget him] and in the bad times to share the suffering and sustain us [not sending the bad times but using them for good if he can]

we feel that there should be people available to talk/pray afterwards with anybody for whom this service might summon up difficult feelings [the pattern of my life is all bad/God has sent bad things/where is God in all this etc] - if needs be we might try and get the presence of one or two trained counsellors just in case.

Jul 98 - Kingston festival

Aug 98 - Flevo festival

Aug 98 - Greenbelt

Grace ran 2 events: life-bittersweet and the last supper

saturday 'life - bittersweet'
this combined elements of our february 98 lent service, about noise and journeying into the desert, with elements of our july 98 'life' service - postcards, the bittersweet ritual.

1. intro/welcome

2. song

3. track 'inner city life' by goldie + oscilloscope - noise internal and external meditation + traffic

4. meditation - journey into the desert

5. song: 'calm me o lord' [from the grace CD]

6. introductory thoughts on life - when we get away, chance to step back and reflect on life

7. postcards - did jesus experience these? (anger/road rage/sexual desire etc etc)

8. story - pleasure and pain

9. bittersweet ritual - lemon and honey + tracks 'bittersweet symphony' by the verve + 'easter song' by a man called adam

10. song

11. blessing

monday - the last supper
so-called because it was the last communion service at greenbelt 98 and, if the festival had not continued, would have been the last greenbelt service ever!

photos here

1. intro/welcome

2. song

3. the table - thoughts on leonardo image of last supper and our contemporary interpretations (people at GB having meals/mcdonalds/etc)

4. invitation - all are welcome - isaiah 55.....

5. song

6. small groups

7. food - eat in groups and share memories - about christ (remember me) and greenbelt (it's the last one in its current format) - the storytelling could be facilitated by a couple of stories from the front

8. confession - handwashing after meal, confession and absolution + track forgiven

9. cup and bread (after supper he took the cup......) - words of institution and sharing bread and wine in groups

10. songs

11. prayer for future of gb and everyone going back to home situations

12. song

13. blessing and incense (burn some incense and give everyone a few grains to take away to offer up on fires around GB or at home as ongoing prayer)

later that night steve did a meditation 1am-2am tuesday in the arts cafe based on john 21.

john 21 meditiation - original greenbelt 98 version

make yourselves comfortable
find a position in which you can relax and be still
and when you have found that position
close your eyes

now take a deep breath - long, deep, fill your lungs
hold it for a few seconds then breathe out - all the way out

and again a deep breath in - hold - then out again

now become aware of the space around you
let the walls of the tent fade away
leaving you exposed to the night sky and the cold...

several weeks ago, your world fell apart.
when the big test came, you just couldn't cope
you blew it for yourself
and you blew it for someone else when they needed you more than ever.

and so you left the city and came back to a place where they wouldn't know what you'd done
and took up the job you'd left in the days of hope

and now it is after midnight
and you are alone
in a boat on a lake
the net is over the side, submerged in the water
and you are waiting.

draw up the net.
how do you feel when the net comes up empty?

let the net down again
watch it slip away silently into the water

and wait. watch the water. watch the sky. and listen.

then draw up the net again.
it is still empty.
how do you feel?
let it down again into the water, maybe in a different place.

and wait. watch and listen.
are you sleepy or alert?

draw up the net
how do you feel when it comes up empty the third time?

row the boat to a different place
let the net down again
are you hopeful? are you resigned? frustrated?

wait

draw up the net.
it is empty
how do you react?

you have come back to something you know well how to do, and now even that skill has deserted you.
how does it feel to be a failure?

it is beginning to get lighter.
the sky is turning from black to blue
it is cold
there is a mist drifting in patches on the lake
above it you see the hills silhouetted against the slowly brightening sky.

far off on the shore, you hear a bird start to sing

what kind of song is it?
is it melodious or harsh?
few notes or many?

at first it is alone
then another starts to sing, a different song
then two more, then many at once and you cannot count them any more.
listen to the dawn chorus.
there is no other sound except the gentle waves against the boat.

something moves on the shore.
you cannot make it out clearly through the drifting mist.
there it is again.
what is it?
an animal? or a person?

it is a person
how do you feel?
are you glad to see them or not?
do you want to meet them?

suddenly the person on the shore is calling to you
asking you if you have caught anything.
will you lie to them or admit your failure?

now they are telling you where to let down your nets.
how do you feel? you are the fisherman. who are they?
are you going to take their advice?

row the boat to a different place
let the net down again
are you hopeful? are you resigned? frustrated?

wait

draw up the net.
it is full
how do you react?

the net is too full to drag into the boat, so you start to row towards the shore, hoping it won't break.
suddenly the first light of the rising sun breaks over the hills and across the shore, full onto the stranger.
and you see who it is.

it is Jesus.
the friend you have hurt.
how do you feel?
are you glad to see him or not?
do you want to meet him?

as you approach the shore you see that Jesus has already lit a fire
there is a smell of cooking fish
but you don't understand where he got them

as you step out of the boat he comes to meet you
your eyes meet

what do you see there?
how do you feel?
what are you going to say?
he seems not to notice your feelings
he offers you breakfast
you eat in silence

after breakfast, you and Jesus walk along the shore.
he asks you if you are really his friend.
how do you feel? what is your reply?
he asks you if you are really his friend again.
how do you feel at being asked twice? what is your reply?
he asks you if you even like him.
how do you feel now? how do you reply?

he has something he wants you to do for him.
how do you feel?
how do you feel when he tells you this is something only you can do?
when he tells you that this time you won't fail?

what is it that he is inviting you to do?
that only you can do?
ask him about it
be open about your fears and questions
what are his answers?
are you going to accept?

when you have decided
say goodbye for now to Jesus
and get back into the boat

put out into the lake
in the blazing sunshine of a new day

the sun is warm
and your eyes are closed

slowly become aware of the tent again
as you do so
bring with you
any insights you have had
into the world after Greenbelt

now open your eyes

short 'noise' meditation for greenbelt 98

here we are in the midst of greenbelt on a saturday night
and it's noisy
we thought we were coming to the countryside
but all around us is the noise of a city here for a weekend

noise is unwanted sound
what's music in the dance tent is noise over here
but noise isn't just about sound
it's about information
noise is whatever drowns out or conceals meaningful information

our lives are full of noise
too much information
too many messages that don't add up to any coherent whole
all competing for our attention

and the noise on the outside
makes its way inside us
seeping into our minds and hearts
until we don't know any more
which voice inside us is our own

society and the media have moved in
and each of us is lost in our own inner city.

god is pushing through the crowd
searching the amusement arcades
department stores and burger bars inside us
for a face that only he will recognise
the face of our true selves

he knows we need to get away
to leave the city and be alone with him
so that he can teach us how to recognise ourselves
next time we're lost in the crowds of unknowing

1998 - 1999

Sept 98 - the sin of holiness

photos here

Mike Riddell was guest speaker and had given us the title, so we ran with the concept. At what point does our pursuit of [what we think is] 'holiness' become a sin - because it tramples other values such as love and compassion?

to summarise some of our preliminary thoughts:
holiness comes from closeness to God rather than closeness to God coming from holiness
holiness is about removing barriers between ourselves and God - commandments etc are just guides as to where those barriers and obstacles might be.
holiness as safety - when securing one's own personal standing with God becomes more important than giving his love to others - abstinence from engagement
holy = churchy - 'holiness' as a badge of belonging, defining who's in and who's out

one thing we are trying to home in on is the distinction between things that are conventionally considered unholy, but aren't; and things that are conventionally not considered unholy, but are. for example, farting in church is not unholy, although it may be bad manners; playing wombles records is not unholy, although it may be bad manners; doing the National Lottery may not be bad manners but is unholy.

GRACE ORDER OF SERVICE
THE SIN OF HOLINESS

MIKE to prepare spoof orders of service [see list of words]

MARK to search out Father Ted videos for swearing etc, and the National Lottery

welcome/intro - MIKE

caricatures of holiness - JEN & MIKE

figures of holy and unholy person:
small groups have A3 sheet with holy & unholy figure on -
write on it what each person would do/be/think/wear etc
pin results up on two large versions of figures at front - STEVE

the congregation's list of holy and unholy things

song

interview Mike Riddell - JONNY

Mike Riddell's address

opportunity for questions

song

ritual
getting our hands dirty planting hyacinth or similar bulbs - DAVE

prayer here
some people don't do anything very bad and yet feel unholy/unworthy
- PAUL

song

concluding words

holy and unholy - the congregation's ideas

holy:

recognising god for who he is
living in the light of god
prayer
letting god in
repentant heart
things done with a godly attitude
everyone and all creation especially cats even snakes
guitars
wholeness
mother theresa
spirit filled
seeking god
honesty
openness
identifying with christ
daring to be different
selfless
pure
joy
peace
loves god
loving
kind
god in us
wash'n'go spirituality
delirious? t-shirt
the guardian
someone who lives by the biblical law [spirit]
humble
christlikeness
wears a halo
tries to build commitment to the truth
seeking intimacy with god
no dress sense
superspiritual
overpious
middle class
conformity
challenging injustice
being right with god
little spare cash
sandals
inclusive
challenging by lifestyle
makes you feel uncomfortable
punk
gospel
breakbeat
self-sacrifice
bruce cockburn t-shirt
rachel's mum
integrity

unholy:

deceitful
going against god
greed
rock music
satanism
prodigy t-shirt
apathy
legalism
selfish
arrogant
blasphemous
bigot
into self-gain
american
exclusive
sex
rebellion
miniskirt
bow tie
grunge look
metal jacket
open to immorality
chooses own paths for life
finds submission to god difficult
uncaring
disregard for others
nirvana t-shirt
violence
the sun
porn video
hate god
expletives
abuse
pride
sexy
anger
swears
taking the lord's name in vain
disrespect for god
wilfully against god
media baron
brokenness
pot noodles
the pope who bled nine choirboys to death so that he could drink their blood [the first transfusion - he died!]
curly guitar leads
shutting god out
'me' culture
envy
ceremonial killing of chickens
hypocrisy

sin of holiness prayer

Father we come to you, as we are, in unholiness, in holiness, as sinners, as children of God.

We are sorry for the times we fail you. For times when we are not holy, that is when we have put barriers between ourselves and you, preventing us from being close to you. Forgive us Lord. Forgive us also when we set a measure or a standard of holiness to aspire to which is not what you require of us. Help us to become closer to you and to remove the obstacles that distance us from you.

Thank you that Jesus shattered the illusions of holiness performed by the Pharisees. You re-interpreted the meaning of holiness and you are our example that we aspire to follow:
Despite being accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, this did not deter you from being engaged with the poor, needy, Roman officials, the sick, tax collectors, children, prostitutes, the rich, rulers, widows. We could think of many types of people that you would be engaged with this day.

Let us not commit the sin of holiness, when we have put barriers between ourselves and the world, that is, abstinence from engagement with the world in which we live. Lord you have called us all to the great commission. Show us by your example how we may be holy and pleasing in your sight, being both close to God and being salt and light to the world.

Amen

by paul wainwright

words for spoof order of service - 'dis-grace'

for spoof order of service - 'dis-grace'

things forbidden in church:

playing cards
drinking alcohol
prawn/pork
fart
belch
spit
wearing a hat
cross-dress
smoke
take drugs
talk
eat
snog
feel someone up
snore
swear
listen to walkman
gamble
smile/laugh
clap
dance
argue
lapdancing
put hands up
heckle/interrupt the preacher
dress provocatively or scantily [not always the same thing!]
take all your clothes off
not wear your Sunday best
read porn mags

if you have nothing to confess, we can provide you with something
you may choose any or all of the following:
rubber goose
fags & booze
lottery ticket

0ct 98 - communion, what's it all about?

photos here

Grace's first experiment with Holy Communion, and first cafe-format service. The actual eucharist was the third course of a meal.

The aim of the service was to explore communion a bit, get people to share their experiences and understanding round the meal table, and to set the scene for future 'eucharist@grace.london' services. We set the service up cafe stylee with tables and chairs at the front of the church.

Order of service:

invitation/welcome [jen]

songs x 2

intro to evening and theme [mike]

potted history of how we got from last supper to church communion now [jonny]

testimonies of peoples understanding and experiences of communion - this will be done interview style with mike interviewing [jen, dave, bill and steve paynter - the new vicar]

set scene for the meal - get people in groups and facilitate story telling around the table w.r.t. communion experiences and understandings [dave]

prayers esp. for future communion services we do - to include burning of incense [steve]

song - thankyou for hearing me

Oct 98 - eucharist@grace.london

following our october 98 service exploring ideas of communion, we began a regular fourth-sunday communion service, with deliberately limited setup and repeated liturgy. this continued until we decided that the church was too cold and uncomfortable in spite of our best efforts - we then moved it into people's homes as the final course of a meal.

communion liturgy used for this series [though i'm not sure if the hammering of nails was always done]:

LAMENTATION / CONFESSION :

(Leader)
As we draw near to the place of at-one-ment:
Give us tears to see the wonder of Your presence;
Give us tears to see the wasting of Your people,
Give us tears to see the wounding of Your Son.

(All -)
We are the race that helped make the wood on which You were crucified, and still we misuse Your creation;
We are the race that helped make the nails that pierced Your body, yet still we use work for gain at others’ expense;
We are the race that did nothing to stop Your betrayers, yet still we are ruled by comfort or cowardice.

Nails are hammered into pieces of wood

THE PEACE :
The opportunity for absolution and sharing of the peace. People cross each others foreheads with water and the phrase “Through the cross we are forgiven”

INTERCESSION :

THE OFFERING : (Bread and wine brought to the table )
(Leader)

We bless You, High King of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become our spiritual food and drink.

As we bring this bread to You, we offer also: our energies and creating; our relationships and achieving; the sap of life rising; the seeds of life flowering; the resources of life acquiring; the fun of life enjoying; the raw materials of life building; the intelligence of life organising; the feelings of life communicating. You who put ear in corn, take these ordinary things and transform them into the glory of Your presence.

We pour out this wine and offer to You the woes of life outpouring; the waning powers of life, the diseases and disappointments; the hurts and the handicaps; failures caused by our stupidity or by circumstances beyond our control. As grapes are crushed to make the wine, so we offer all who are crushed by hunger or loneliness, violence or abuse. You who put beam into sun and moon, take all this and transform it into the deep, rich wine of everlasting life.

SONG : “Lift up your hearts”

THE EUCHARIST :
(Leader)

High King of the universe, who sustains the worlds, who brought forth the earth; You breathe wisdom into all your creatures, till we reflect Your three-fold friendship. In our pain and sorrow we cry out to You, Tender Lamb, slain before the world began, perfect sacrifice for our sins. Grant that by the power of the Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine may be for us His body and blood who, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, gave You thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying : Take, eat, this is My body which is given for you. After supper He took the cup, gave You thanks, and said to them : this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Me.

SONG :(All - words on slide)

Christ has died !
Christ is risen !
Christ will come again !

THE INVITATION :

This is the table not of the church, but of the Lord.
It is to be made ready for those who love Him and who want to love Him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little.
You who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time.
You who have tried to follow and you who have failed.

Come. Not because I invite you; it is our Lord.
Is is His will that those who want Him should meet Him here.

Use your eyes and your heart.
Here is your Lord coming to you in bread and wine.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
Draw near with faith.
Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which He gave for you, and His blood which He shed for you.
Eat and drink in remembrance that he died for you, and feed on Him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

SHARING THE BREAD AND WINE :

“Forgiven” and “I lift my cup” played over suitable video images with the words on the screens.

A BLESSING :
#(All - words on slide)

May the power and the mystery go before us,
to show us the way,
shine above us to lighten our world,
lie beneath us to bear us up,
walk with us and give us companionship,
and glow and flow within us to bring us joy. Amen.

Nov 98 - Pre millenial tension

1. songs

2. intro to theme - reflections on the blue peter time capsule being buried and dug up (JEN)

3. thoughts about the future and what lies after 2000.... (STEVE)

video - as part of the above we would want some clips from the films mentioned and any others if possible (MARK / ADAM)

4. stations - taking stock
each of these will have a resaonable introduction from the front to set the scene for what people are expected to do. how to live is the pressing concern for the future. once we pass 2000 rather than feeling like things are drawing to an end, it will feel like there is this huge open space in front of us. we will have three stations representing the planet, ourselves, and the church. visiting each will be a chance to reflect on where each is headed and what our part to play is in each.

personal - acorns.... readings from douglas coupland 'girlfriend in a coma' about taking responsibility for life (JONNY)

excerpts from chapter 35 of 'girlfriend in a coma'

how do you feel about the future?
what will you be doing in 2010? 2020?
in a survey of old people asked what they would do differently if the lived their lives over again, one common response was that they would RISK more.
what are your dreams for the future?
what risks do you need to take to realise them?

jesus told a story of how the kingdom of god is like a small seed that grows to become a large tree.
hold the seed/acorn - what does it represent in your life?
take some time to offer it and your future to god.

global - pile of rubbish - some stats on slide and piece to whom does the earth belong? to read - can we have a sustainable future w.r.t. the planet? (MIKE)

church - autumn leaves... it feels like winter is upon the church in britain but when things seem dead, it can pave the way for new life. what is the future of the church? what is the future of our part in it? (DAVE)

5. songs

6. readings + music - visions of the future from scripture + on god's faithful covenant (JEN)

7. final thoughts on spirituality - triumphalistic/revivalistic religion has led to disillusion e.g. 'i want to build the kingdom of god in my generation' when the promises aren't delivered. we need a more realistic but hopeful vision of god with us as we head into the future that connects with faithful hopeful living along the lines of jeremiah to thos in exile Jer 29:5-9 (DAVE)

8. song/blessing

autumn leaves

[dave holme]

to whom does the earth belong?

Reflect on Psalm 24:1, Psalm 50:10-11, Psalm 115:16.

In what ways have human beings failed to exercise a cooperative and responsible dominion over the Earth that God has given them?

Read Genesis 1:9-12, 20-30.

Do verses 26 and 28 provide a declaration of war on nature?

Are developing tools and technology, farming the land, digging for minerals, extracting fuels, damming rivers for hydroelectric power, harnessing atomic energy all fulfilments of God's primeval command?

Are we the 'lords' of the Earth?

Has Christianity actually caused irresponsible use of natural resources?

So what distinctive contribution to the ecological debate should Christians make?

We believe that God created the Earth and that one day he will recreate it. Read Romans 8:18-25.

In Ronald Higgins' book 'The Seventh Enemy', the first six enemies are the population explosion, the food crisis, the scarcity of resources, environmental degradation, nuclear abuse and scientific technology. The seventh enemy is humanity itself, our personal blindness and political inertia in the face of today's ecological challenge.

Do we find it easier to subdue the Earth than we do to subdue ourselves?

At the root of the ecological crisis is human greed. How does this challenge us?

In what one way could I help to conserve our human environment for the next century?

[mike rose]

visions of the future

In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century saw a rate of technological progress unprecedented in human history. One of the side effects of this was the invention of science fiction, as the rate of change in the real world encouraged imaginative speculation about the unbelievable wonders, or nightmares, that lay ahead.

And it's at about this time, the late 19th century, that the year 2000 starts to take on a special significance in people's imaginations; not in a religious sense, but as a date symbolising the idea of the Future not just as a time not yet come, but as a radically different place from the past. Clearly, during the endless ages of, say, Egypt of the pharaohs, the idea of the future as radically different from the present wasn't going to happen; and for most of human history, whenever people have dreamed of a radically different future it was going to come about as a result of divine intervention from outside human history, rather than as a result of human development itself. But someone in 1890 will have been aware that they were living in a world that had been utterly transformed in the space of a human lifetime, and the magic date with all the zeros, the millennial date, draws the eye and people start to ask the question, "If technology carries on changing human society like this - what will life be like in the year 2000?"

Now clearly, over the past century there have been two answers given to that question - the optimistic answer, where technology brings about a utopia of peace, plenty, and usually human idleness; or the pessimistic answer, where technology either destroys humanity or enslaves it.

And we're going to take a look at some of those visions now.

Firstly, the optimistic view, which I think is best symbolised by 2001: a Space Odyssey - in particular the Blue Danube sequence with the space station and the trip to the moon.

When I was a child in the late 60s, this was the vision of the future we were brought up on - a future of technological optimism and freedom. When I saw 2001 again a couple of years ago, after not having seen it since the 70s, I was heartbroken - this was the future I was promised, my childhood dream - and it will never happen. I feel robbed, in a way.

By the 1980s it was obvious that the shiny space-age vision of the future wasn't going to happen, and the worsening of the Cold War brought about by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the election of Reagan, the deployment of cruise missiles etc, brought about a series of visions of the future as nuclear nightmare such as hadn't been seen since the 50s, all encouraged by the increasing apocalypticism of the religious right in America who almost seemed to enjoy what was going on. Let's take a look at the opening sequence of Terminator 2:

Note the irony of the date - those visions now look a little dated, since the end of the Cold War. We at Grace know that machines can't take over the world, because they can't even work the slide projector. My, they're going to have to evolve fast!

So where does this leave us now that we're almost at the year 2000? What's been creeping up on us in the years since the 60s, is that the Future isn't futuristic after all - it's pretty much like the past but with different gadgets.

Sometimes the future arrives, but more slowly than expected. I remember seeing designs for people-carriers in the 1960s, but it took the car industry 30 years to get around to it. And virtual reality - remember that? - very 1992 - looks like it's going to be another future that takes forever to arrive.

Human history as normal, in short, rather than a radical break from it. And although we're having a little burst of excitement now, once we get past the year 2000 there isn't another date to replace it, that can stand as a symbol of the future, for a very long time. 2100 doesn't have the same ring. And I'd suggest that the idea of the Future [capital F] as a place radically different from the past, as we have known it for the last hundred years or so, will fade away and we will be back in a situation similar to that of, say, the 18th century, where the future was just whatever happened next, without the capital F or the apocalyptic vision. A future in which the human race muddles on through wars and rumours of wars, in which the battle is never won, but never lost either, until the Lord returns. The tube will still be dirty and we will get stuck in the tunnel, but the voice of a female android [excuse the contradiction] will tell us what the next station will be, if we ever get to it. In short, Blade Runner. Let's take a look:

Now this, too, is probably too pessimistic [I hope]; but it is I think far closer to a real future than anything else we've seen. It's a non-futuristic future, in which clothes and buildings have retro styling. It's a future in which electronics, and genetics, are simply business. And it's an environmentally degraded future. Blade Runner is based on the book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Philip K. Dick, and what isn't made explicit in the film, but is in the book, is that most animal life is extinct. It starts with owls - one day all the owls are dead, and no-one knows why. Then another sort of animal just dies, and another, until hardly any real ones are left - and artificial animals are manufactured to fill the human need for nature. Uncomfortably possible.

now with that vision of the future standing as a warning, we're going to move on to reflect more personally on where we ourselves, the Church, and the planet are heading.

[steve collins]

Nov 98 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Dec 98 - Christmas Labyrinth

the labyrinth itself is based around the annunciation & advent.

the journey inward [preparation to meet god] will take the themes of the OT prophecies about the coming of the messiah; the
central light will represent as ever the meeting with god, but in this case specifically the annunciation, as the point where mary
said yes to god. the journey outward will be themed on the magnificat, about the effect of us bearing the god we have said yes to
out into the world.
[KEV/ANA to email existing labo stations to STEVE who will re-map themes as above]

'self' station - this is about gifts. god to us, us to god. christmas presents. [DAVE]

'each other' station - incarnation - how are we being christ to others? how are others being christ to us? [KEVIN]
people is where we meet god, not a building. 'the messiah is among you' story from riddell.

'planet' station - theme of 'journey' [MARK]

[BRIAN to do overarching meditation, ROSIE to sing]

photos here

overarching meditation

[spoken at intervals, and slowly, while people are walking the labyrinth. written by ana draper]

Tonight we are on a journey, a journey towards the light who is God. We look towards our Trinitarian God walking with expectancy. Just as at the beginning of time the earth was in darkness, so we are in darkness, moving towards the warms and nourishment that is God, our life source.
God - the word, said let there be light and there was light.
God created and continues creating - God see's all that he has created and continues creating.
God loves giving life and wants to give it in abundance.

John 1 v 1-14.

Jesus told Nicodemus that unless we are willing to be continually created into the image of God we will never see God's kingdom. We can be like a seed, buried deep into the ground, we can choose to germinate, grow and develop towards the light. As you journey around the labyrinth, take your time, each step is a step of discovery. Just as the wise men journeyed towards God by following a star, so we ask you to journey. Be prepared to face what you discover about yourself, as you walk towards the light - let God the light draw you towards wholeness (holyness). God is faithful, she will not desert you. God is the pulse of the cosmos, they will not let you die.

Isaiah 52 v 7-10.

God's good news - Mary was asked to carry The Word, the pulse of the cosmos within her.
God is asking you if you will do the same?
Will you be the good news, the incarnate God.
Mary choose to say yes and she changed the course of history - what is your response?
God the Trinity loved Mary and made love to her, impregnating her with himself. Inside of her grew God, she and God became one.

Jesus said
"The spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me;
he has sent me to announce good news to the poor,
to proclaim release for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind;
to let the broken victims go free,
to proclaim the year of the lords favour."

" The spirit of the Lord is upon you because he has anointed you;
he has sent you to announce good news to the poor,
to proclain release for prisoners and recovery for the blind;
to let the broken victims go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lords favour."

Isaiah 9 v 2-6-7

John 1 from 'The Message'.

written material on the labyrinth path

The inward journey:

To become ready to receive God as messiah into their midst, Israel had to let go of:
injustice - they learned what it felt like to be an underclass
materialism - they learned how to live with just enough
false self-images - they learned that they were no better, wiser or greater than any other people
false security - they learned that their own strength was not enough
idolatry - they learned that other Gods corrupted their values but couldn't help them

The inward journey is about facing up to and letting go of things which hurt your relationship with God.

It is also about facing up to and letting go of false images of yourself - your own self-images, and other people's images of you - so that you can be real with God.

What are the barriers between you and God?
What needs to change for you and God to draw closer?
Think about it for a while as you travel.

Who are you?
Let go of who other people think you should be, their expectations of you, their projections.
Let go of who you think you should be, your own expectations and projections.

Accept yourself.
God accepts you.
God loves you.
It is safe to be your real self with God.

Think about the ways in which you have been unjust to others
think about the ways in which others have been unjust to you
draw a symbol or write a word to describe each of these things

Jesus said, if you let go of the unjust things people do to you, God will also let go of the unjust things you do. Carry the symbol with you for a while as you journey...

Think carefully. Are you willing to 'let go' of the things people have done or said to you? If you are, place the symbol in the bin and let go of it as God lets go of the unjust things you do.

Think of the things in your life which are more than you really need [remember that your needs are not just material]
if you take more than you need, are you denying others the things that they need?

What are your real needs?
Draw symbols or write words to describe your real needs
carry them with you for a while.

Jesus said, God loves you and knows what you need; so put God's ways and values first in your life and all that you need will be given to you as well.

Are you willing to put your needs into the hands of God?
If you are, leave your drawing or writing here to symbolise your leaving it with God.

The centre of the labyrinth:

Here in the centre of the labyrinth is where we symbolically meet with God. Please spend some time here. Relax. Enjoy God's presence. Meditate on God. Commune with God.
You can be real with someone who loves you. Be real with God
Say yes to God, like Mary
Receive more of God - how might this be?

When you are ready to journey outwards, light one of the small candles from the central flame and take it with you as a symbol that you are bearing your encounter with God out into the world.

The outward journey:

As you journey back out of the labyrinth take your encounter with God with you. Reflect on how this encounter might affect or change you. Reflect on what it means to bear God within you, like Mary, out into the world.

Mary foresaw many consequences of bearing God into the world.
She foresaw justice:
the mighty put down from their thrones and the humble lifted up
how can you be part of this process - God's work of justice?

If you need to, write or draw something to take with you as a reminder.

She foresaw fair sharing:
the hungry fed, and the grabbing by the rich stopped.
How can you be part of this process - God's work of sharing?

If you need to, write or draw something to take with you as a reminder.

Mary was told, "a sword will pierce your own soul too."
Walk through the stones. Feel the sandpaper. Stand on the cotton wool. Feel the texture. In what ways does this remind you of your journey.
Are you willing to face the consequences of bearing God into a world that rejects and fights against God?

Look around and notice. Even though they may be at different stages, others are on this journey too.

As you approach the end of the labyrinth think about God who has been the host for this part of your journey. If God asked you to fill in a guest book - what would your comments be? Please fill in the book with your response to God, your host.

Jan 99 - Journey

What would you give ?

The journey DAVE
Include reflections on the journey from Xmas labyrinth. Video extract >from 2001.
Meditation ‘The Journey’

Songs of pilgrimage

Introduction

The story of the journey : The reading ?
Reading : Matthew 2 : 1 - 13 read from the Message

What draws you to the Christ child ? MIKE

Songs of commitment

What gifts will the Christ child accept ? MIKE
Hand out paper & pencils

Gold : the best of what we are and the best of what we have
Yellow light
Intro : Our gifts, our time, our hearts and minds. The things we consider valuable.
Reflection : the things of greatest value to us - 1st section.

Frankincense : our worship
Blue light
Intro : what worship is acceptable - noisy or silent
Reflection : how would you worship a baby ?

Worship songs

Myrrh : our suffering, the world’s suffering and His
Red light
Intro : Do we bring the world’s suffering ? Have we the right ? Are we close enough to it? Do we bring our pain to Jesus ? However insignificant ?
Reflection : what suffering will you bring to Jesus ?

Prayer time STEVE
Confession

“ So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country “ MARK
Intro : Invite people to make a commitment bringing up paper to burn.
Commitment : Offer option of foreheads painted with three coloured stripes.

Final song and blessing

Jan 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Feb 99 - cover versions

bible intro ritual - bring bible in in procession with acolytes in robes, cense and kiss, then reading eg john 1, psalm 119 [DAVE]

inner city life - a moment to focus

songs: come holy spirit/dancing 2 a nu xpression

talk re pocket canons
who is the bible for? do we need to protect it? who has the right to comment? [MIKE]

tables set up in church, with coffee and donuts
on each table several versions of bible [EVERYONE to bring as many different kinds as they can]
including some pocket canons [DAVE to buy 30 of these, especially Mark, John, Song of Solomon, Genesis, 1 Corinthians]

to facilitate discussion:
on tables suggested readings - 1 Cor 13/Genesis 1/Mark 14:12-31/John 9:1-12 [re disabled]/Song of Solomon something smutty [STEVE]

also written questions re do people read the bible, if so how, why, which version, what bugs them about it eg science/OT
genocide/patriarchy & sexism etc. [STEVE]

genesis 1 reading by several voices [STEVE]

[any other ideas for readings etc? eg KEV/ANA]

how the canon was fixed - piece by [STEVE/DAVE]

song

lord's prayer[DAVE]

final reading [revelation 22:18-19?]
then process out with bible [DAVE]

in background videos of animated bible [available in church]/jesus of nazareth/the ten commandments etc [MARK]

Feb 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 notes for communion liturgy.

the theme of this service is the need for space in our lives, to recover ourselves, take stock of who we are, where we are, and
what we need to be more whole, and how lent might be a season for doing this before god.

intro [STEVE C]

prayer [SOMEONE ELSE, on theme of service]

songs [JONNY/MIKE]

[lamentation/confession from printed liturgy] [SOMEONE ELSE]

short talk leading into time of meditation [STEVE C]
ANOTHER VOICE NEEDED FOR THESE TWO SHORT READINGS:

love is patient, love is kind. it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is
not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. it always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. love never fails.

god is patient, god is kind. god does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. god is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily
angered, keeps no record of wrongs. god does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. god always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres. god never fails.

AFTER MEDITATION:
lift up your hearts [JONNY]

then the printed liturgy from:
we bless you high king of all creation. through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer...
through the eucharist] [STEVE P]

prayer/thanksgiving [STEVE C]

songs [JONNY/MIKE]

[blessing from printed liturgy] [SOMEONE ELSE]

dismissal

video: either the moving skies, or something else that gives a sense of space and peace. what's that water/waves stuff i've seen?
we could start the service with the busy streets images under the intro, and then move into the calmer/more spacious images.

Mar 99 - passover

Mar 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Apr 99 - In Christ (Silent meditation)

Apr 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

May 99 - Time of our Lives

'Time of our Lives' was the Archbishop of Canterbury's Millennium youth event, held across London. Grace provided one of three cathedral services on Pentecost Sunday, in Southwark cathedral.

photos here

Service outline - Time of our lives - 2 May 1999 - Grace @ Southwark

The church will be lowlit, with images projected onto sheets between the pillars and onto video screens and TVs in various positions. Music will be played as people come in. During most parts of the liturgy and prayers ambient music will be played in the background.

1. Welcome/introduction
Spoken over music track 'God is a DJ' [by Faithless]

2. Preparing for worship
Play track 'Inner City Life' [by Goldie] and project words - give space for people to quiet themselves down in God's presenece

3. Candle lighting prayers
Initially one candle is lit and subsequently all 15 candle holders (with 12 candles on each). While this is taking place the following words are used

In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God
In him was life and the life was the light of all.

The light and peace of Jesus Christ be with you all
And also with you

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
Who is worthy of all thanksgiving and praise

4. Songs
While candles continue to be lit songs/chants will be sung:

The Lord is my light my light and salvation
In him I trust In him I trust

Come Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your people
Kindle in us the fire of your love

5. Meditation/reflection
A reading/reflection on the theme of the incarnation as God journeying to be with us in our world. This will be accompanied by background music and video images from the film 2001 of a fast journey through space to the earth.

6. Readings and response
A series of short readings over quiet music. After each reading there will be a sung response.

Verses from John chapter 1 in The Message
[sung response] Thankyou for entering into our world

Reading from the introduction to Mark's Gospel by Nick Cave in the Pocket Canons series
[sung response] Thankyou for entering into our world

Verses from Phil 2
[sung response] Thankyou for entering into our world

7. The Creed (sung)
I believe in God the Father Almighty
I believe that he made the earth and heavens
I believe in Jesus born of a woman
I believe that he is the Son of God I believe.

I believe in Jesus teacher and healer
I believe that his life was poor and simple
I believe he died betrayed and rejected
I believe that he fought the power of evil

I believe the holy life giving Spirit
Is a gift of the Son and Father to us
I believe the three are one and united
I believe in his healing and forgiveness

I believe that Jesus died and was buried
I believe that he rose to life again
I believe that he was taken to heaven
I believe that he reigns at God's right hand

I believe that he will come back in glory
I believe he will judge the dead and living
I believe the resurrection of body
I believe in the life that's everlasting

8. Talk - given by Rev Rose Hudson Wilkins

9. Ritual/Response
There will be an opportunity to respond to the message by taking part in a ritual. There will be stations by all the pillars in the church and in the transepts with a table with pieces of lemon and a bowl of honey with breadsticks. Those that want to can go forward to taste a piece of lemon and acknowledge the reality of pain/bitterness in their lives but God's presence with them in the midst of that. Then they can taste the honey by dipping the breadstick in the bowl to acknowledge and give thanks for thesweet/good things in life and God's presence in those. During this the track 'Bittersweet symphony' [by the Verve] will be played.

10. Prayers of intercession
During the prayers incense will be burned. There will be a said response after each prayer.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense
The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice

11. Blessing
Everyone will stand and there will be an exhortation to follow the example of Christ who came as a light into our world by taking the light into the world with us. During this the track 'Firestarter' [by the Prodigy] will be played.

12. Final Song
God is our strength and salvation
Bringer of true liberation
God is the power in our weakness
Promise of life in completeness

Freedom to move to a bigger rhythm
Freedom to live in the love of heaven
Freedom to dream of a new creation
Freedom to walk as a holy nation

God is the love that enfolds us
God is the father who holds us
God is the mother who feeds us
God is the servant who leads us

God is the son of a woman
Measure of how to be human
God is the Christ who is risen
Giver of courage and vision

God is the joy of creation
Source of our life celebration
God is the author of meaning
God is our reason for dreaming

May 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Jun 99 - Jubilee 2000 service @ vaux

Jun 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Jul 99 - recovering lost wonder

With guest speaker Mike Starkey [one of the co-founders of Grace]

photos here

1) WOW
Have some large pieces of paper, felt pens, paper etc. and introduce the
idea of 'wonder' by asking what things make you go 'wow'. in the centre of
the paper will be a 'WOW' along the lines of lichtenstein's 'wham' pop art
painting. people can then write/paint etc things that make them go wow.

MIKE to lead this bit
DAVE to co-ordinate paints, paper etc
MARK and ADAM produce a video sequence of things to make you go WOW
(mark can you bring paintbrushes and paint from the service you did?)

2)What squashes the WOW?
In groups facilitate discussion of what things seem to squeeze the sense of
wonder out of life. Give people a sheet of questions to guide the
discussion. Then get people to write on postcards the blocks they identify.
then pin these onto sponge bricks and build them into a wall to cover up
the WOW montage created above.

DAVE to lead this bit and prepare the discussion sheets
JONNY to provide the bricks

3) Meditation
Lead people through a meditation on being crushed and then released

LUCY and IAN

4) Talk
Talk on restoring lost wonder
Before talk Mike Rose will introduce Mike Starkey
After talk we will give opportunity for comment and questions

MIKE STARKEY to talk
MIKE ROSE to introduce and field questions

5) Songs x2
'I lived in the shadows' + a.n.other

JONNY to lead

6) Story/parable
Retelling of 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des sources' focussing on the
blocked underground spring and when it gets unblocked. Show a video
sequence of the unblocking on a loop. This is obviously meant to be a
parallel with removing things that block the wonder/WOW.

JENNY/JONNY to retell
MARK and ADAM to put video sequence together

7) Space to respond/pray
Some time will be given for people to reflect on wonder and give thanks
and to reflect on what blocks it and pray for God to remove it. There will
be a range of things people can do during this time:
look at photography books
read childrens story books
eat fruit
remove bricks from the wall to gradually uncover the WOW montage behind it
do sums/calculus with Mike (!!!!!!!!! strange what gives some people the
WOW eh?)
While this is going on, music will play and scriptures will be read out -
for example verses on creatures in Job.
It will finish with a final prayer.

MARK to introduce response
DAVE to bring photography books
ALL to bring childrens story books e.g. 'wonderful earth', 'narnia stories'
JONNY to get fruit
MIKE to bring sums
ANA/KEV to unearth some WOW ish scriptures/quotes

Jul 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Aug 99 - Greenbelt

We ran a labyrinth with LOPE and the Sunday morning communion.

Also released the eucharist CD to go with the service

1999 - 2000

Sept 99 - Homecoming

Sept 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Oct 99 God our therapist

welcome
2 examples of misconceptions of therapy (Antz clip and problem prayer) -
jen

introducing theme; what is therapy?; why suggest God as a therapist? - Ana

songs x 2
? +
heal me

group discussion - exploring the metaphor of God the therapist - Mike

interview a therapist (Jona) - Jonny

Sinead O Connor track 'this is to mother you'

meditation - Christ and his relationship with God the therapist - Ana

response time - tent with hanging cross and fairy lights and bits of cloth
and masking tape!!!!!!!!! (all will be revealed) - Steve

closing prayer - Dave

Oct 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Nov 99 - All Saints

photos here

Scene setting: carpet at front covered in leaves pictures of saints half-hidden in leaves DAVE a timeline marked out along the centre aisle of the church, with dates from Christ to the present day [two millennia]; at the appropriate dates saints/heroes of the faith marked with their names and a small biography of why they are of note, and a candle. STEVE

ORDER OF SERVICE: INTRO: Celtic history of why All Saints/All Souls is celebrated at this time of year tradition of awareness of mortality at onset of winter, and remembering those who have died [explanation of leaves/picutres?] DAVE

ACT OF REMEMBRANCE: one minute's silence First world war poem DAVE

PRAYER MIKE

SONGS

TIMELINE: introduction/explanation give congregation 5-10 minutes to look at it STEVE

GROUP DISCUSSION: people come back to front and settle in small groups to discuss/share people of the faith who have inspired them, whether historical or present-day, well-known or not.

IAN will speak about making connections between the heroes of the past and our lives in christ today, and how we pass those connections on in our turn.

postcards are handed out. each person writes the name of someone who has been their example on one side - who/why; then on the other side they write their own pledge to be that example for other people, and stick their photo on that side. IAN

TIME CAPSULE: short intro, the video of the Blue Peter time capsule burial c. 1970 is shown [if found - MARK] the cards are then gathered up and placed in the time capsule, along with grace memorabilia, to pass the memory of this group of saints gathered here tonight on into the future.

the time capsule is taken outside and buried. sparklers may be lit. JONNY [IAN is getting a time capsule]

everyone then comes back into the church CONCLUDING PRAYER OR MEDITATION to be decided

SONG

Nov 99 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Dec 99 - Labyrinth

photos here

it is on a Christmas theme. there will be the usual atmosphere with music playing and voice over bits and bobs. action: dave to write bits and bobs connecting kev and ana's notes and christmas readings/snippets

the set up will be the labyrinth in the hall at the back. the entrance and exit to the labyrinth will be in the entrance to that hall. there will be a cafe set up at the back near the hatch all evening with tea/coffee/squash, mince pies and clementines. action: steve to rework the st paul's labyrinth design to fit in the space incorporating 4 stations + the central area action: dave to buy items for cafe - tea, coffee, sugar, milk, squash, mince pies, clementines

the labyrinth will run from 5-6pm for parents and younger children to do together. then it will run from 6-9:30pm with people able to come and go as they please. when people arrive they will be given a card to take round with them to be stamped at the various stations en route. instructions for what to do will be on boards in the corridor into the labyrinth. action: mike to notify database via e-mail of times action: dave to do instructions for boards action: steve to get labyrinth fliers printed action: jen to make the fliers into cards to be stamped action: ian to make the stamps for each station

the labyrinth will consist of 5 stations as follows. there will also be some of the usual things to do on the way round in between the stations but given more of a christmas flavour. action: dave to produce inbetween bits

station 1: contemporary christmas reflecting on what christmas is about. this will be set up like a home with a sofa, tv loop of james bond, queens speech etc,. one thing christmas is about for a lot of people is friends and family - there will be the opportunity to reflect on this and make a friendship bracelet. action: ian and lucy to plan station, get stuff for friendship bracelets etc action: mark and adam to produce video

station 2: angel station, with readings and images reflecting on angels. people will make an angel at this station that they then take on with them to the next one. action: dave and alwyn to plan station and work out how to make angels

station 3: nativity grotto, with nativity scene and readings on christmas story. people will add their angel to the angelic host in the scene. there will be a mobile with bicycle wheel with images of jesus from various cultures around the world. this will connect with the incarnation and people will be encouraged to write or draw something to consider how christ connects with their culture/world. the children will be encouraged to draw a picture of the first christmas as they imagine it. they will then collect a luminous star to take with them. action: jonny to plan this station, get stars, etc. action: alwyn and mike to get nativity figures

station 4: epiphany station based on gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. at this people will reflect on what they bring/give to god and to others. they will write these things on a template for a box. this will then be made into a gift to be taken to the next station. there will also be face paints and people get a stripe of three colours to represent the gold, frankincense and myrrh. action: mike to plan this station, get face paints, pens etc action: jen to design templates and instructions for making gifts

station 5: this will be the central station/holy space. there will be a christmas tree here. people place their gifts under the tree. there will also be paper chains to write prayers on to hang on the tree. and people can spend some time in quiet. before they leave they will plant a bulb as a way of thinking about the future and what they would like to plant for the new millenium to take out with them. people then make their way out of the labyrinth. action: steve to plan this station, get tree, paper chains, bulbs etc.

Jan 00 - ????

[note from adam - I have no record as to what this service was - any ideas?]

Feb 00 - Icons

Simon Jenkins was the guest speaker explaining the tradition of icons.

1. icons carried in in procession and set in their places on the 'stations'
appropriate music eg the beatitudes

2. opening prayer

3. general introductory talk with slides [simon jenkins]

what icons are and how they are used, history and tradition, images as
windows into other realities or presences, representation theologically
driven etc

4. pens and paper given out, people discuss in small groups and write down
things that function as icons for them

5. congregation invited to walk around, look at the icons, take time to
contemplate them and pray [standing] before them.

four icons, each with an explanation of subject/symbolism/story/how to read
the picture
possibility of people lighting candles in front of the icons

music from taverner/orthodox liturgy as background

6. congregation recalled to front
read out some of the things that people have written that function as icons
for them

7. final prayer

congregation invited to bring to next service things that are icons to them

Feb 00 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Mar 00 - Labyrinth, St Pauls

a combined event with people from epicentre and live on planet earth. the labyrinth ran 6th-10th march 2000 in the south transept of st. paul's cathedral.

the st. paul's cathedral labyrinth was a development of the live on planet earth labyrinth, but specifically as altered to be the christmas 1998 labyrinth at grace. in order to be manageable in a tourist environment, the outer stations [self, others, planet] were incorporated into the labyrinth itself. a unique pattern was developed to fit the allocated space in the cathedral and incorporate the extra stations. everything in the cathedral had to be produced in six languages, and it was not possible to play background music or speak an overarching meditation; so we put the material from the overarching meditation and the written instructions into spoken tracks with background music on a CD. people walked the labyrinth carrying a CD player and listening on headphones.

for photos see here and here

for all about the labyrinth see labyrinth.org.uk

Mar 00 - Lent

theme: lent
report on st. paul's cathedral labyrinth - steve
intro - jonny

section 1 - repentance/clearing the decks
Confession from imaging the word vol 1 pg 181 with kyrie sung between each section - Dave you have the book so please bring it with you
Song - father hear our prayer
Dropping stones in water to symbolise letting go of sin - play Moby track 'why does my heart feel so bad?' - Mark to introduce?
reading - Matthew 6:1-21 - jen?

section 2 - imposition of ashes
follow liturgy - mike/dave to concoct liturgy between them and lead it; dave to make ash
meditation 'what will be left of us' from labo CD to listen to

section 3 - focus on Christ
use picture 'give me jesus' on slide (dave to make slide)
space for reflection/meditation on our need for jesus - steve to lead/introduce
song - god above
song - amazing grace/ be thou my vision
closing prayer

Apr 00 - Images of Christ

May 00 - Fast Game

May 00 - eucharist@grace.london

small communion service on fourth sunday. see nov 98 for notes.

Jun 00 - Pentecost

Jun 00 - eucharist@grace.london

Afternoon picnic followed by eucharist

Jul 00 - Labyrinth

Ran at the Guildford Youth Diocesan event

Jul 00 - Positiva

Aug 00 - Greenbelt

Grace ran the St Paul's labyrinth at Greenbelt

Jul 00 - eucharist@grace.london

2000 - 2001

2001 -2002

'Go to church on Saturday'

2002 - 2003

2003 - 2004

The art of worship since 1993

Dec 03 - nine

See December 2004 for explanation.

These are the nine readings and music we used this year:
1. Genesis 3:8-15, 17-19; Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones
2. Genesis 22:15-18
3. Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
4. Isaiah 11:1-3a, 4a, 6-9; Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles
5. Luke 1:26-35, 38; Angels by Robbie Williams
6. Luke 2:1, 3-7; Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
7. Luke 2:8-16
8. Matthew 2:1-12
9. John 1:1-14; Mad World by The Darkness

Lesson 1: the Fall

So this is freedom...

Something later generations will curse us for.
They will say it all started here.
Conflict, starvation … stress at work …
concentration of power in the hands of a few,
separation from one another,
lives driven by fear.
They will retreat into the trivial -- you know, celebrity watching, tabloid television, the National Lottery...
or build fortresses to keep everyone away. Especially the asylum seekers.
They will say it all started here.
This is what it means to be fully human, to be fully alive -- to face bleakness and death.

But could I go back to the way I was before? Before, all was light, I was dazzled, I saw nothing.

Now I see that the world has texture.
Now I see that we need darkness as much as light if we are to see anything.
Now I am no longer an infant who expects to see God walking in the garden in the evening.
Now it is possible for me to relate to God as an adult.

And I believe that is what God wants.

But first I must face my freedom. And I must face death.

Mar 2004 - psalms (2)

This follows up the previous service on psalms -- participants were invited to bring their own psalm.

Some examples:

My Psalm of Complacency by Jonathan Hassell

Oh Lord,
It's too easy to forget you

Your call on me often doesn't get through
Muffled by the bustle of my life
My multi-tasking mind

To you I call
Break through any barriers I have erected
Whether knowingly or by accident
Through trying to be contemporary

Break through
My complacency
My arrogance
My intellect

Help me to be more than observer
Finding new neuroses
To keep life full
And yet empty

Guide me
Make me unable to contain your gifts
Move me
Help me to hold on until it hurts

Because although I crave your peace
I need your justice

Agitate
Do not leave me in my self-sufficiency

Help me to need you more
Take me places where I must turn to you
To get me through and find you're all I need

And when I need it
As you often do
Send your irrepressible joy
Blowing through
Leave me startled
Grinning uncontrollably
Almost giddy
Embarrassingly happy
A gift bestowed by a spendthrift
The Inspirer of all

Oh Lord,
It's too easy to forget you
Break through

______________________________________________

I am frustrated by the mundanity of life
the superficiality of what I am offered each day
or my own lack of energy.

My life threatens to stagnate
when what I really want to do is fly away, to run for the horizon.
But what will happen to the people I leave behind?

I remember moments when things were different.
The most intense times
when someone kissed me unexpectedly or cried on my shoulder
when God spoke to me or took hold of my hand.

I thank God for those times.
And I thank God for stability day-to-day -- for I can't stay on the mountain top.

______________________________________________

I can no longer praise God like I once did.

Once I could follow formulas
sing songs ("Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee...")
say the standard prayers ("Almighty and most merciful Father...")
spend certain specified times in a church building.

Now I see that praise must be earned.
Now I see that it is not tied to words or times.

My soul longs for something -- but what?

2004 -2005

Sept 04 - Slow

[this service was inspired in part by the idea of the three mile an hour god from theologian kosuke koyama]

Set up:
Set the room up with two screens in the middle back to back – project speed on one side and slow on the other.
do visual stuff from arkaos for speed side
do visual stuff through mixer for slow side
have two mac classics, one for each side of the screen with slow and speed on

Before the service:
Give out tickets for the fast track that lets people in early/quickly – make it slow for others.
Have a rev counter type thing that runs from flat out to flat out – invite people to answer one or two questions - how do you live your life? how do you want to live your life? – and place a post it note or sticker on according to their answer

Service:

1 Preparation:
Welcome/intro
invite people to take watches off and turn phones off
Opening prayer/sentences/call and response liturgy (could involve slow and fast ends of room)
Play track from logical progression with sample from ferris bueller’s day off (life moves pretty fast....)

Slow down
adbusters reading of guy who stands still
prayer of st hilda community
video of jar being shaken and settling with words to encourage people to slow down (taken from cd rom accompanying tune in chill out)
play 'hey man slow down' radiohead

Group discussion
on contemplative vs commuter:
Questions along lines of
Is slow good? Is fast bad? If you're in an accident, you want the ambulance
to come as quickly as possible. When else is speed good?
We work quicker so we can work fewer hours - but do we?"
are you naturally more a commuter or a contemplative? martha or a mary?

slow confession with Reflective piece on time
visual of hand written clock

Praise
My heart is restless
The Lord is compassionate and gracious

2. The Word
Readings
Bible passages/readings on either side of the room re slow and fast

Reflective piece if we slow down... accompanying a video slow moment that no longer seems to be online - it was a brilliant combination.

3. Response
Prayer
Make Jesus prayer cords – use to pray – use animated iconostasis and jesus prayer tack from tune in chill out

Concluding ritual
Take boiled or soft sweets depending on whether you are feeling the call/need to go slow or fast

slow blessing

Oct 04 - Miracles [1]

the first of a series of two services looking at miracles inspired by jeffrey john's talks at greenbelt 04

order of service
'Call to worship'
couple of songs
Simpson's clip/Life of Brian clip
Discussion of miracles and feedback
(people to write miracles they remember on a big sheet so we have a record
of them.)
Inspiration for service and summary of Jeffrey John book with clips from GB tape (see below for summaries)
Ignatian reading - pool of Bethesda (taken from de mello book)
Stations:
a)Water into wine
b)Hem to touch
c)Inclusion/exclusion - stories and post-it notes
d)faith
Need for belief and concluding ritual

From Jeffrey John -- introduction

A summary of Jeffrey John's book "The Meaning in the Miracles".
The Guardian Editor section used to include summaries of books "condensed in the style of the original", and that is what I have tried to do here.

Introduction

The author starts by referring to two Scripture teachers from his school.
One of them believed the Bible in the most literal possible sense, and
considered the meaning of each miracle story was to prove the supernatural
nature of Jesus. The other teacher, in the interests of being relevant,
dismissed anything that sounded supernatural. Her explanation of the
miracles was therefore naturalistic (e.g. the calming of the storm was a
convenient coincidence) or moralistic (e.g. the feeding of the five thousand
was achieved by inspiring everyone to share the food they had). Both
teachers assumed that the only interesting thing about the miracles was the
question of what did or did not happen, and both therefore missed the point.
What we need to do is look for the meaning.

"Let us ask the miracles themselves what they tell us about Christ, for they
have a tongue of their own, if it can only be understood. Because Christ is
the Word of God, all the acts of the Words become words to us. The miracle
which we admire on the outside also has something inside which must be
understood. If we see a piece of beautiful handwriting, we are not
satisfied simply to note the letters are formed evenly, equally and
elegantly: we also want to know the meaning the letters convey. In the same
way a miracle is not like a picture, something merely to look out and
admire, and to be left at that. It is much more like a piece of writing
which we must learn to read and understand." -- St Augustine

a) Each miracle story is a literary creation with a theological purpose.
The gospel writers were steeped in Old Testament Scripture, and constantly
use threads of prophecy-fulfilment, symbolism, or allegory to create a new
story which reapplies the truths, hopes, patterns and meanings of the
scriptural past to the present.

Therefore the key to unlocking the theological meaning of a miracle story
requires knowledge of the Old Testament. The author therefore recommends
following up the cross-references in the Bible, and using a good commentary.

b) The stories must be understood in their own religious, historical, social
and political context. A story such as the healing of a woman with a
haemorrhage shows Jesus overturning a taboo which subjugated and oppressed
women, and was nothing less than revolutionary. Read properly, it
challenges the Church to assess its own treatment of women today as
powerfully as Jesus challenged the gynophobic conventions of his own time.

A similar point can be made about most, if not all, of the healing miracles.
They seem to have been deliberately selected by the evangelist to show
Jesus healing at least one of every category of persons who, according to
the purity laws of Jesus' society, were specifically excluded and labeled
unclean, or who was set at varying degrees of distance from worshipping in a
temple. They are demonstrations of Jesus' healing power and compassion for
the individual, but that is not the main point. Far more relevant to us is
the miracles' universal significance: the overturning of social and
religious barriers, the abolition of taboos, and Jesus' declaration of God's
love and compassion for everyone, expressed in a systematic inclusion of
each class of the previous excluded and marginalised. How often has the
Church failed to follow this inclusiveness and, and preferred instead to
create and cling to its own taboos?

c) Principalities and powers. The gospels continually refer to demonic
powers,, and we must avoid the pitfalls of literalism and reductionism. We
are not required to believe in the existence of demons with forked tails,
nor even, necessarily, in the powers as being entirely distinct, self
existent entities, but nor should we simply dismiss them as if they were
merely outdated dramatic trappings which no longer mean anything in a
"scientific" age. The New Testament uses the same terms to mean both
supernatural forces and the very real powers which represent them on earth.
(They are not inherently bad.)

Just as the healing miracles often imply reinclusion of a whole class of
excluded persons, the power of sin and rebellion against God, and the
healing that they require, must be understood as operating corporately as
well as individually.

d) Faith. One of the many paradoxes in the gospels is that at first sight
the miracles seem to be intended as straightforward demonstrations of Jesus'
divine power, but at the same time the gospels contain strong warnings about
the dangers of being impressed by signs and miracles, and Jesus himself
appears to be extremely wary of being known simply as a wonder-worker, and
is scathing about those who seek signs for their own sake. A personal
belief in Jesus that goes deeper than self-interest and the mere worship of
power is at least part of what the gospels mean by "faith".

e) Eyes to see (and ears to hear). When the disciples fail to understand
the significance of the miracles, they seem to incarnate both the particular
spiritual blindness of Israel and the general spiritual blindness of all
humanity. Mark in particular appears to believe that God had willed a
temporary spiritual blindness to come upon the people which actually
prevented them from understanding. The hope, prophesied by Isaiah, remains
that one day all the blind eyes will be opened. All the gospel miracles of
Jesus healing the blind are to be interpreted in terms of this theology of
revelation: their point is not medical but spiritual and theological.

Summary: the background knowledge of a miracle is indispensable if we are to
get the spiritual meaning. All the miracle stories contain profound
teaching which is of indispensable relevance today, teaching that all too
often gets passed over because we do not get past the "miraculous" packaging
and the endless issue of "did it happen?" We should aim to share the same
perception of the truth that impelled the evangelists to write the miracle
stories in the first place.

That covers the introduction -- the rest of the book consists of analysis,
from the above perspectives, of almost all the miracles. Each chapter also
has some devotional materials.

From Jeffrey John -- the healing of the paralysed man

... the one who was lowered through a hole in the roof. (Mark 2 v 1-12,
Luke 5 v 18-26, and there is a similar story in Matthew 9 v2-8)

The main point of the story is Jesus' claim to forgive sins. It is a
fundamental assumption in Judaism that God alone can forgive sins on God's
behalf or with God's authority. The reality of Jesus' claim to forgive
authoritatively could not be proved on its own, since it is an inward,
spiritual matter. Hence the importance of the miracle. Jesus' question,
"Is it easier to forgive or to say to the paralytic, get up?" is not meant
to imply that forgiving sin is literally "easier" than physical healing. It
is more a question of visibility. The physical healing proves the truth of
the claim to exercise forgiveness.

The fact that Jesus heals and forgives simultaneously might suggest that the
sickness was the result of a specific sin on the paralysed man's part, or
that he was an especially sinful person. But as is referred to elsewhere in
the Gospels, as well as the book of Job, human sickness is to be linked not
so much with the personal sin of the sufferer as with human sinfulness in
general. From the Gospel point of view all disorder, even natural
phenomena, derive from the separation between God and the world. Conversely
the various demonstrations in the Gospel of the power of Jesus over
sickness, sin, disorder and death are all equivalent signs that he bears the
authority of God to drive back the darkness, and reclaim the world and human
beings for their creator.

Many Christians are suspicious of sacramental confession, but it does carry
a special healing power for those who still need to hear the kind of
objective and authoritative declaration of God's forgiveness that Jesus
makes in the story. A desperately needed ministry (which the Church is not
particularly effective at) is the opportunity to open oneself up in faith,
and to be reassured of God's acceptance of our whole person, despite the sin
and mess.

From Jeffrey John -- wedding at cana

There is a barely concealed implication that Jeffrey John considers this
story to be allegorical rather than factual. Many Jewish writing symbolise
the messianic days as a wedding feast, and many of the stories in the
Gospels are about weddings as well.

There are two particularly important points from the story, and the first is
the production of the wine itself. There are reminders of Jesus saying "can
the wedding guests fast while the groom is still with them?" and "no one
puts new wine into old skins".

The production of a huge abundance of wine, and a production of a similar
abundance of bread at the feeding of the five thousand, suggests an allusion
to the Eucharist, the sacramental means by which the believer is united with
Jesus. [I am reminded of the communion liturgy which says "let us make a
huge loaf of bread, and let us bring abundant wine."] The story of the
wedding, like communion, is also about celebrating a corporate as well as an
individual relationship -- and the story does not hesitate to compare the
joy of the celebration with drunkenness. In the Western Church we are not
good at joy, though the joy does not necessarily have to be expressed in
loud and visible joyfulness.

The second point concerns Jesus' words to his mother -- a verbal slap in the
face which suggests hostility between them. Jesus' view of the family was,
to say the least, ambiguous, and he himself clearly had problems with his
own family. His teaching that all human relationships and all human
institutions need redeeming -- including motherhood and apple pie -- is
important to keep in mind, especially when our relationships prove
difficult. God comes first, and everything else needs ordering in the light
of our relationship with him.

Nov 04 - Miracles [2]

second service on miracles

this included communion where people were invited to take a thorn as well as bread and wine and concluded with

order of service:
PowerPoint presentation of optical illusions at the start
welcome/focus on God
song - this is the house of God
Intro to service - miracles today
Simpsons clip
Introduce stories - of miracles and unanswered prayer, faith and doubt.
People to tell stories - Steve, Moya - leg, ? - St Marys
Mystery in miracles, place of faith, refer to coins from last time
Heavenly man story
Invite people to take a thorn - what do you want God to do for you?
Time of quiet for prayer
Song - O Lord hear my prayer
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Liturgy - we believe you can do miracles, but even if you don’t you are still God.
Communion, leave thorn with God, prayer for healing/miracle - needs explanation at the start.

miracles liturgy

Dec04 - Nine

nine is explained here...

these are the nine readings we used this year:
1. Genesis 3:8-15, 17-19
2. Genesis 22:15-18
3. Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
4. Isaiah 11:1-3a, 4a, 6-9
5. Luke 1:26-35, 38
6. Luke 2:1, 3-7
7. Luke 2:8-16
8. Matthew 2:1-12
9. John 1:1-14

And these are the tracks people chose:
Adam Lay I-Bounden Anon 15th c
No title - Welk
At the Centre’ - Lies Damned Lies
It Hurts So Good - Millie Jackson
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Personal Jesus - Johnny Cash
Untitled – Joel Baker and Simon Burrell (aka twotone)
Sound effects of a journey – Mark Waddington
As I Went Down - Lies Damned Lies
To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens

Lesson 4: Isaiah's vision of the kingdom

Here we have Isaiah's vision of an ideal future world -- call it "heaven" if you like. And this picture, the Plains of Heaven by the Victorian artist John Martin, is another vision of heaven.

What is your vision of heaven? And what do you think will need to happen for that vision to be realised?

Isaiah's vision is of a world without conflict.

What would it take to stop humans fighting with each other (never mind animals)?

Here are a couple of possibilities:

Give people all the resources they could possibly want -- be it living space, time, oil, carbon credits... and they won't have anything to fight over. I call this the George Bush model.

Or change people so that they are incapable of fighting -- the Brave New World model.

I'm sure you can think of other possibilities.

Now let's get back to Isaiah. He makes it clear that this is the Jesus model. Jesus will lead the world to the vision of heaven. This is Jesus who healed people -- and who promised to bring fire to the world.

I really don't know how he will bring heaven about. But we can be sure that it will be alive.

Jan 05 - ignatian examen

a guest from the london meditation centre (julie) led grace in an ignatian type examen for the new year

ignatian examen

Lent 05 - lent blog

grace lent blog 05

Feb 05 - Minor Prophets

12 people had taken a minor prophet and had a space under their head (which are sculpted in stone around the church) to offer their interpretation, reflection, ritual or whatever.

there is a smallfire photo album here

and jonny's photo album here

the second photo album above has a summary of each station though we may dig out some other bits and pieces for here...

amos
habakkuk
haggai
hosea
joel
jonah
malachi
micah
nahum
obadiah
zachariah
zephaniah

Mar 05 - Prophecy

Mar 05 Holy Week - Out Of Nothing Installation

a guided/narrated journey through the days of creation with original soundscape and meditations. it is all age friendly. this is a new project created with Group which will be published in the US in june05 under the title worshipping the creator (uk) | US version here. we called it 'out of nothing'...

there is a photo album here and another one here

Annual Report for St Marys PCC 2005

Grace continued in a pattern of two worship services a month. The main creative service is on the second Saturday of the month. We tend to loosely follow the pattern of the church calendar as a basic structure for our services. Themes this last year included miracles, slow, minor prophets and prophecy, nine (our untraditional take on nine lessons and carols), the ignatian examen and stations of the resurrection. We have a couple of visiting speakers each year. This year we welcomed Julie Dunstan from the London meditation centre who led us in the Ignatian examen. And Bishop Pete joined us for a BBQ in the vicarage garden where we 'grilled the bishop'.

Gracelet is the second service each month which is smaller and one or two people from Grace put it together each time rather than a creative group effort. We have moved this back to the church rather than meeting in peoples homes. It is a reflective service usually structured round a basic liturgy.

At Easter we ran the installation 'Out Of Nothing' for three days of holy week. This was a new worship experience meets art installation on the theme of creation.180 people passed through and the feedback was great.

We took part in Greenbelt arts festival again where we have become something of a regular fixture. This was the first outing of 'Slow' the service that we subsequently led at St Marys in February.

The lent blog was a big success again (a web site with people posting a reflection each day through lent).

Numbers at Grace vary between about 30 and 60. Gracelet is more like a dozen. We have the usual mix of regulars and tourists. Partly by being in London and partly through having a strong web presence we are always hosting visitors from round the world looking for creative ideas for worship and church. The strangest this year was when two mini bus loads of Danish youth pastors arrived.

The planning group has been pretty strong this year. Communication with St Marys is definitely helped by Anna being a member of Grace and on staff at St Marys. We also took part in a training day for the diocese of Willesden in response to the report Mission Shaped Church. We are in the middle of a process of re-evaluating what Grace is about and how we structure our life together. In part this is in response to a challenge bishop Pete gave us to reflect on what mission means for Grace. The first phase of the process has led us to develop a set of values that we hold and/or aspire to. We'll let you know the outcome once we've finished the process.

You can generally check what we are up to on the grace web site, by looking at the grace notice board in the polygon and of course you are always welcome at any grace services.

the grace team xxx

Apr 05 - Parables [1]

opening words

opening prayer

songs:
come holy spirit
this is the house of god

confession

intro notion of parables
three different takes on hospitality

brick testament – unhospitality [slideshow on screens]

mike riddell parable [read out]

babette's feast [on dvd]

creed

song - this is the table of christ

eucharistic prayer [andy sillis guest priest]

invitation

[bread and wine]

prayer

blessing

May 05 - Parables[2] - Godly Play

Friends from l8r in northwood led by Kev Draper led us in an experience of godly play

Jun 05 - Parables[3] - speed parables

Parables 3 notes from e-mail:
The service will be ‘topped and tailed’ by Mike leading some worship. The
main part of the service will be loosely based on ‘speed-story telling’.
Groups will congregate around 6 tables (more if we have to double some up)
and experience parables told/discussed/explored for 8 – 10 minutes (we’ll
fix the time on the night). After the allotted time the gong will sound and
in a Mike Reid Runaround style groups will move to a different table.

If all goes well we’ll have 6 rotations so everyone gets everything but
we’ll be responsive to mood.

We’ll set up the parable tables in the large polygon room with some chilled
muzak in the backgound. Café set up as usual. Do we have drinks available
during as well as after?

Order of service:

§ Welcome and introductory worship – Mike

§ Explanation of the service – Jen

§ 6 parable tables + facilitators:

q Good Samaritan – fill in the blanks - Mark facilitator, Ben/Mike to prepare
q David and Bathsheba – Rebecca ‘Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury’
q Why did Jesus use parables? Matthew 13 - Jen
q Tales from peoples lives – M & Ms - Adam
q Film + response – Ben ‘Hudsucker Proxy’ + ‘Life is Sweet’
q ‘Nicholas of Cusa’ or Unforgiving servant – Jackie

§ Parable of the sower – prayers Mike

M&M's

The M&M’s exercise consists of giving each of a small group of people a subject to talk about, depending on which colour sweet they draw from a bag:

Brown: something you fear (it doesn't have to be personal)
Green: something you hope for
Red: a gift you have to offer
Yellow: a show, film or exhibition you have seen
Orange: a place you have visited
Blue: a person who has particularly influenced your life.

I am not going to explain too carefully exactly what I mean by each of these topics, because the precise interpretation is not important -- the purpose of the exercise is just to give people something to talk about, so they will tell stories. But it helps to give an example. This one is for yellow:

"Last night I saw a real live dragon. I am not joking -- it was a Green Water Dragon at Kew Gardens. They had a special late-night opening for "locals", for which I just about qualified, mainly to allow us to see the exhibition of glass installations, most of which can be found among the plants in the greenhouses. My favourite installation was hanging from the ceiling of the Temperate House -- a large cluster of glass leaf shapes in flame colours. I was just in time to see it catch the evening sun.

"But even after that, the best thing I saw on my visit was the dragon. I have never seen anything before that looked so alive."

That is the first part of the exercise. We were not able to do the second part at the Grace service, but we have done it at a Gracelet meeting:

A large drawing of a tree is required, and some leaves cut from green and brown paper and fruit cut from red paper. This is the point at which you discover the reason for the choice of colours. Each participant takes a leaf or fruit to represent each hope, fear or gift they mentioned, and any others they may have thought of, writes something on them if they want to, and puts them on the tree. The leader glues down the green and red shapes, but does not put any glue on the brown leaves.

When the tree is complete, the leader prays, to dedicate everyone's hopes and gifts to God. Then the leader picks up the tree and allows all the brown leaves to fall off.

Jul 05 - BBQ

Greenbelt 05

we ran the installation Out Of Nothing - see Mar 05 holy week installation

2005 - 2006

Sept 05 - Engage

1. Dramatic start
Unexplained smashing of mirror with sledge hammer
see fab pics here including steve doing a ymca impression

(No link or explanation into...)

2. Radiohead video (the one with buildings collapsing)

Verses on death, letting go etc...

3. Plate smashing ritual
Invite people to consider comfort that they want to move on from, or something dear that needs to be let go of. This could be personal or about Grace. Write it on plate and drop onto concrete slab.
Play shouty track video by Lemon Jelly

4. Grace in transition
Introduce reshaping Grace process. Recap weekend. Explain letting go of some of the ways we have done things. Invite/challenge to consider part in reshaping. Living with discomfort.
Lead godly play style ‘I wonder what could be made of the fragments/broken pieces’
(Play track ‘So Beautiful’ by Urban Myth Club)

5. Reflection/Prayer
Reflection/meditation on broken pieces connecting with personal and Grace stuff.
Prayer for Grace and personal things.
Conclude with liturgy with response ‘far I have come far I must go’ based on song on Idjut Boys album Press Play.

We are creatures of comfort
God of broken people and places (far I have come far I must go)

6. Scriptures on rebuilding/desert blossoming etc..

7. Take away bags
Invite people to come and take a bag with a broken piece, and a sheet inviting them to think about where they might engage.
Play track ‘get up get involved’ by James Brown

oct 05 - create

planning email

This is the service plan that got sent out before the event.

Setup: Main body of chruch cleared of pews. Camo netting hung flat
across the space just above head height. Video screens on left and right
sides. Creative Stations set up around edges. [EVERYBODY from 6pm]
(clips/hooks etc for hanging things on netting - Adam and Steve to bring)

- Welcome/Introduction

- Reading Genesis 1

- Playback of 'Day 7' from Worshiping the creator

- Explanation that we are all creative

- Blank sheet of paper/first idea/shredder ritual - encourage people to
think outside their box and suspend judgement.
(Requires shredder, paper, pens - adam to bring)

- Play time! Creative stations
-- Consequneces Prayers - an outline (possibly based on lords prayer)
for groups of people to write prayers bit by bit
(requires paper, pens, explanation)

-- Drawing with restrictions - eg wrong handed, with crayons, limited
colours
(requires paper, pens, etc etc - adam to bring)

-- Potato printing - potatoes, knives, paint, tarpaulin to protect
floor! make shapes or print with whats made.
(richard bringing tarpaulin, can volunteer bring potatoes etc)

-- Pipe cleaner modelling - small modelling things, pipe cleaners, foil
etc - just make something
(modelling stuff?)

-- Typewriter - for writers that can face the blank sheet!
(typewriter, explanation - Mark)

-- 'Punk' litrugy - ie created by cutting words out of newspapers
(newspapers, glue, paper - can everyone bring newspapers)

-- Live camera direct onto screen - with props to create visuals
(techie stuff Adam, can everyone bring some random props! anything to create 'creative' still lives from! the more random the better)

-- Lego - making things just because!
(lego and explanation)

People encouraged to have a go, work alone or in groups, leave things
unfinished or only do part of a creation.
All creations hung on camo netting to create the service that people can
wander in and sit under.

- Finish with 'We bring gifts' Communion (with or without communion
depending on priest availability!) Leave bread and
wine for people to take and time to look around the creations hanging
from the netting (play Vision On/Tony hart gallery music)

Cafe afterwards

Nov 05 - participate

Introduction/prayer
DVD we have decided not to die - connection between it and Grace – mention stuff from last service
Song(s)
Blob tree where are you participating in the Kingdom of God
Jelly babies
Participition in Grace – ‘making space’
Participation in the wider world -- see below
Time of contemplative prayer inc explanation of the new monthly gig
Concluding liturgy/ritual

This was the final liturgy/ritual:

Do You Turn To Christ?

participation in the wider world

As well as considering participation in our churches and communities to be important, we are also very interested in participation in the wider world, such as the addressing of injustice in the world.

If you think that the injustice in the world is too large to handle, we need to find an action on a scale which we can handle. And we need to start from a position of knowing something about injustice, so here is a story. About sugar.

Sugar is very important -- where would we be without jelly babies? More seriously, it is a major global commodity, which millions of people rely on for their livelihoods. And if it is traded fairly, it helps to release people from poverty. This is what is happening in Mozambique, in southern Africa. The government has introduced a policy to help its sugar industry. It has set a minimum price above which imported sugar must be sold, helping locally produced sugar compete with imports. Sugar factories and plantations now employ 25,000 people, and foreign sugar companies are investing in Mozambique. Workers now earn enough to send their children to school and to afford medical help when they are sick -- both important indicators of development and hope for the future.

But Mozambique is an exception. International trade rules are preventing the governments of poor countries from helping their farmers and industries. In exchange for loans from international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which many poor countries rely on, many countries are forced to accept detrimental economic policies.

Mozambique was put under great pressure to stop supporting its sugar industry. If it had stopped, this would have opened the economy to sugar imports which may well have been cheaper than local production, often because rich countries who don't have to worry about being able to get loans subsidise their farmers or because of dumping of oversupply. In which case, the farmers in Mozambique would not have been able to sell their products and they would lose their livelihood. Imagine it -- you have been working hard for years to lift your family out of poverty, and then you are sent back to square one by farmers who are supported by their government, while your government is not allowed to support you. This is exactly what is happening in many situations around the world.

I am sure you think that this is unfair, and hopefully you would like to do something about it. So I have brought in some postcards to Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The World Trade Organisation is having a critical meeting in Hong Kong next month, and so we want to ask Mr Johnson to stand up for what we want -- to allow developing countries to shape trade policies that are in the interests of their people and the environment. The more people ask him, the more likely he is to do it.

The postcards are over there at the back. Please sign one before you leave, and please also think about whether you would like to do more. There is a sign-up list for further information. If you need a further incentive, I have brought some chocolate.

[Everyone who signed up to receive further information received the following message: "To sign up to receive Take Action (in which case you will be sent postcard appeals, similar to the one to Alan Johnson, about five times a year), or e-mail appeals, or (preferably) both, go to Christian Aid's Take Action web site and tick the first two boxes."]

Dec 05 - nine

See the archive for December 2006 for explanation.

The Nativity (accompanied by Lord of the Starfields by Bruce Cockburn, and the trailer for the film The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)

In the story of Narnia, Jesus is depicted as a lion
A strong, majestic, victorious king
Who sends his subjects into war
Who defeats death through his sacrifice
Who keeps his distance
A wild lion, to be feared and respected
To loved and obeyed.

But Christmas is not a time for lions
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus
The creator of the universe, left the security of his father’s side and entered our world as one of us
The lord of the starfields became flesh and grew inside his mother’s womb, was born and cried and slept and fed.
The Ancient of Days became tiny, vulnerable, dependent child.

And in the still darkness of that first Christmas night
As the silent earth draws breath
We creep inside the stable,
And sit with Mary and Joseph
To wonder and to worship.

The Shepherd’s Prayer
by Andrew Sillis

Oh God this is boring - sitting in the damp
staring at these lousy sheep
I think I’m getting cramp.
Oh could there be another way?
Could life be full and fun?
Could there be riches beyond the heavens
When all is said and done?

Oh God this is boring - the sheep are going “baa” again
like when preachers make you want to snore
until their last “amen”.
Oh could there be another way,
where truth is light and airy?
and get away from all those folks
whose truth is simply lairy?

Oh God this is boring - like riding on the tube
all those sheepy faces staring
kinda blank, but in a mood.
Oh could there be another way,
for us to share this journey,
with loving smiles and open hearts
life would be much less scary.

Oh God this is boring - yet more daily grind
satisfying the pedantry of others
won’t they ever open their minds.
Oh could there be another way
much more natural and simple
without crossing every “t”
and spotting every pimple.

Oh God this is boring - why don’t you just come down
with a flight of heavenly angels
just come, and take your crown!
Oh!

Jan 06 - Benedictine Spirituality

Inspired by The Monastery – best reality TV of 2005 – intrigued by way in which this ancient tradition impacted on the 5 men who entered the monastery. Fits in with a desire of Grace to look at existing and past traditions and think about how they might become refresh our own lives. Good from time to time to ask other people to come and talk to us about the things they are passionate about to widen our horizons. This service is lead by John Chapman of St Hughes Northolt.

Readings
Kathleen Norris, US poet lives in South Dakota – raised a ‘thorough Protestant’ as she described herself but
Cloister Walk reading – from first chapter ‘The Rule and Me’.

Video Tape Clip from “The Monastery”

The Benedictine Way: a way of true listening, humility and order:

We are a school of the Lord's service, in which we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome. …. But as we advance in the religious life and faith, we shall run the way of God's commandments with expanded hearts and unspeakable sweetness of love; so that never departing from His guidance and persevering in … His doctrine till death, we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ, and be found worthy to be coheirs with Him of His kingdom.

Some Benedictine key words: (power point “Key Words” - overlay on background images)
Humility, Listening, Obedience, Order, Patience, Rhythm, Rule, Scripture

The Ladder of Humility (Power Point “Ladder of Humility” overlay on background images)

1. Fear the God who sees all
2. Desire only the Father's will
3. Submit as unto the Lord
4. Embrace difficulties as for Christ
5. Confess all sin, conceal none
6. Be content with the lowest task
7. Choose humble attitudes not just words
8. Follow the common rule;
9. Control the tongue, learn silence
10. Beware of careless laughter
11. Speak gently at all times, be meek
12. Show humility in one's bearing

We considered the Benedictine vows of:

Obedience, Openness to God & others, Humility, Hospitality, Limitless Listening
Stability, Fidelity, Chastity, Celibacy, Reckless Love
Conversion of Life, Continual Conversion, Poverty, Simplicity, Generous Justice

We considered Lectio Divina in the monastic Tradition

Lectio (Read)
Rumination (Chew)
Meditatio (Christ)
contemplatio (myself)
oratio (pray)
action (action)

We closed the service with Eucharist

Additional reading material suggested by John Chapman.

The Rule of ST Benedict in English 1980 translation, Liturgical Press, Minnesota

The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris

A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule, Esther de Waal; Mowbray, London, 1995

Praying the Hours, Suzanne Guthrie: Cowley, Camb, Mass, 2000

The Glensal Book of Prayer, Columba, Dublin, 2001

The Fire in these Ashes, Joan Chittister OSB, Gracewing, Leominster, 1995

Pax, The Benedictine Way, Ambrose Tinsley OSB, Colmba, 1994

Heart Whispers: Benedictine Wisdom for Today, Elizabeth Canham, Upper Room, Tennessee, 1999

Seeking God, Esther de Waal: Fount, 1984

15 Days of Prayer with Saint Benedict, Andre Gozier OSB: Liguori, Missouri, 2000

The Benedictine Rule of Leadership, Galbraith & Galbraith: Adams, Avon Mass, 2004

Father Joe, The Man who saved my Life: Tony Hendra: Hamish Hamilton, London, 2004

Spiritual Letters, Abbot John Chapman OSB: Burns & Oates, London, 1935

Feb 06 - Discipline

taking the theme of discipline we explored four areas -

discipline of time (organising the rhythm of life)
discipline of idleness (ensuring we create time for being lazy, rest, play)
discipline of practice (lots of areas of life require practice - e.g. sport - in what ways can we develop practice to mature our faith)
discipline of community (what do we do together as grace to support faith)

once we had expored these four areas and collected a different coloured clothes peg at each we collected a piece of washing line and put them on and joined them together in a circle with the following piece of liturgy written by steve...

We hang our lives upon your mercy

here's how the whole service works:

General setup:

video - usual two screens
jonny's laptop for words with one projector
steve has adam's projectors and cables

music - jonny

4 tables, on floor with folded legs - tablecloths probably required
fatboys around each table

cafe [email round for volunteers]

steve's list:
bell or sounder
psalm
bcp prayer/confession
coloured pegs and lines - mark as time/practice/idleness/community
concluding prayer

how the service works:

people come in and sit round the tables

each table has a theme as below, with a facilitator. there will be objects, questionnaires etc for discussion.

at intervals a bell will ring [or some other sound] and everyone has to move on, taking a coloured clothes peg from the table [different colour for each table]

intro [steve]

psalm 1

blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the way of sinners:
and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.

but his delight is in the law of the Lord:
and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

and he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side:
that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

his leaf also shall not wither:
and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.

as for the ungodly, it is not so with them:
but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.

therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgement:
neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

but the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:
and the way of the ungodly shall perish.

glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end,

amen

dearly beloved brethren,
the scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of almighty god our heavenly father; but confess then with a humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy.

and although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before god; yet ought we we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.

wherefore i pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying after me:

almighty and most merciful father,
we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep,
we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,
we have offended against thy holy laws,
we have left undone those things which we ought to have done,
and we have done those things which we ought not to have done,
and there is no health in us:

but thou, o Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders;
spare thou them, o god, which confess their faults,
restore thou them that are penitent,
according to thy promises declared unto mankind in christ jesu our Lord:

and grant, o most merciful father, for his sake,
that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous and sober life,
to the glory of thy holy name.

amen

the tables:

1. discipline of time: [sue]

questions:
what do you make time for?
what does this tell us about values/what we put first?

fill in timetable daily/weekly/yearly

objects eg alarm clock, organiser

2. discipline of practice [richard]

practice makes perfect - doing things to achieve skill, fluency, or in readiness for use
eg martial arts, music, ballet, sports

hebrews 12 1-11 as bible reading

body/mind/spirit connections - the physical as spiritual activity, and vice versa

are we obsessed by results? how do we measure?

another view of spiritual disciplines is as following in the way of christ's passion - rehearsing the ancient ways so that they become part of us
rather than doing spiritual routines to 'make us better'

objects: things that need practice eg games

3. discipline of idleness [mark]

knowing how to rest
the idea of sabbath
renewal, play
stillness, attentiveness leading to awareness - of god?

objects: lazy area? things invoking play, contemplation [zen garden!] or relaxation

4. discipline of community: [jonny]
what helps us to live together?
what is grace's rule?

questions:
what does grace do that helps you in your journey with christ?
what's missing from what grace does?
grace has identified an ethos - what is the framework that supports us in living it?

objects: ??

then ask facilitators to report back

concluding ritual for all together: [steve]
prayer about taking responsibility for our lives
this is a process not finished

hand out lengths of washing line for people to put their pegs on, hang any bits of paper they have kept

[we say together]

We hang our lives upon your mercy
measured out in miles
your boundaries and pathways,
coordinates and charts
that guide our steps
along roads you travelled before us

We will make time for you and your word
We will practice your ways until they are part of us
We will rest and play in you
We will be your people

[hold the end of the line of the person next to you]

We are not complete without one another
We cannot run the race alone

We will support one another
encourage one another
wait for the weak
pick up the fallen
through your strength and love

When we are together we will remember what it is like to travel alone
When we are alone we will remember what it is like to travel together
Wherever we are we will remember God who always goes with us

Go with us now, Lord, this night and always
Amen

[end of service]

discipline of community group discussion:
what does grace do that helps you in your journey with christ?
what's missing from what grace does?
grace has identified an ethos - what is the framework that supports us in living it?
what would a grace rule/rhythm of life look like?

steve's discipline service planning notes

1. rule vs grid:

as metaphors:
a rule [linear] implies a specific sequence of events that you have to follow
a grid is a frame of reference, like on a map, within which one can move in any direction but which gives orientation

2. rule emerging out of ethos of community:

what is our particular gift/charism/unique selling point as the community of grace?
what rhythm/rule sustains that?
what sustains the grace ethos/values as a community?
how is the gift guarded?

if a community develops its own rule, there is a danger of missing out things that are hard

the purpose of disciplines are to get us in touch with the Passion of Christ
discipline helps us participate in the life of christ
so what does it mean to follow in the way of christ, for us?
what helps us to be disciples?

how do we disciple someone? do we do it as a community?
do we disciple by sharing our life with people?
how do we communicate the life of christ in that?

following a corporate rule gives you support

rule embodied in a pattern of 'shared consumption' - traditionally, everyone in the community using the same book/prayers/daily office, but what is our pattern of shared consumption?

3. testing your rule:

are we the best people to curate/review the structure we generate from ourselves?
who do we look to for the outside view?

tests to apply:
how does your new rule compare to previous rules and the life of christ itself [church tradition /the bible]
how does your rule bring someone from no faith to faith?

4. digging up disciplines from history:

there is a life progression of a discipline:
one person's ideal - many other people want it too - fashionable - convention - obligatory - oppressive - abandoned as meaningless
cf Mike Riddell's story of the teacher's cat
a discipline continues as an ideal after it has ceased to be helpful
are old disciplines helpful or just the accepted conventions of how to be spiritually disciplined?
how to reexamine them?

how appropriate are disciplines created for different societies [eg benedict] to our own circumstances?

5. discipline in postmodernity:

there is a suspicion of authority ingrained in us
rule-changing/deconstruction is our natural response faced with a rule
so what is a postmodern rule?

in a postmodern society what stock should we set by the failure to follow somebody else's rule?

how do you find the 'rule' that is authentic for you?

the first rule of grace is that there is no rule
always contradict yourself

to be able to break something down you have to know it from inside well [in alt w it's knowledge of church espec charis evo]

[it's typical of grace to pick up something on a quick reading [eg benedict] and run with it]

6. what are the seasons or rhythms of our lives/community?:

quartering the year - seasons of christian life
[the christian calendar is supposed to work like this]
if we reevaluate during summer holidays is that our new lent?
an alternative church year?

[interesting that grace has always produced strong stuff in lent - as opposed to say advent]

is a rule always the same or does it have seasons?

7. discipline as training for achievements [is it it's own reward?]

discipline turns you into something.
what do you want to turn into?
how far will you go?

discipline takes us from one place to another

is discipline like gardening - different natures, all need shaping within their own nature/environment
discipline to be appropriate - wrong one will damage

what is sustainable as a rule/discipline?

8. discipline of prayer as practising awareness of god, rather than repetition of words or lists

9. discipline of idleness
over-organised lives need times to not be 'disciplined'
we need a discipline of taking time out - the danger of a rule is it becomes another form of workload
is this why we fail to have disciplined spiritual lives? another form of busyness in a too-busy society?
balance in life - as individuals/community

10. for the service:

we need things in service that produce data:

eg questions:
what helps you to follow jesus?
what does grace do that helps
what's missing from what grace does?

[do on flip charts/post up]

what do people actually make time for?
what does this tell us about values/what we put first?

make an altar of self-help books - a monument to failure of discipline/good intentions

video - mark to run

music - mike presum. - jonny has idj?

cafe

Mar 06 - Lent Bring Your Own Station

this was the text that we sent round to publicise it that sums up the approach...

Part of the grace ethos is participation. The next grace puts this to the ultimate test...
Please bring a station with you on the theme of lent and/or a tune on an ipod or CD.

What is a station?
One of the sorts of service we do at grace involves walking around the worship space interacting with stations that have been set up in advance that contain something to cause you to reflect, pray, worship, think, or actively participate in a ritual. These might be as simple as lighting a candle, reading a story, writing a prayer, adding a stone to a pile, looking at a video loop, listening to a meditation, tasting some fruit or whatever. If you’ve never done this before even better – this could be the start of something...

What do I do?
The theme is lent. Lent is a season of preparation for Easter typically focused on discipleship and following Christ. Do anything that relates to that. If you want to work from a scripture passage then three ideas to spin off from might be a) Jesus' temptations in the wilderness (we have done many a lent service on the theme of desert) b) the return of the prodigal son c) Psalms. Create something that is self contained for people to visit – i.e. it has things that people can engage with without you having to be there to explain it. So if there are instructions print them out for people to read and then add what you like in the way of things to look at or read, activities, small rituals, food for thought etc.

When will it be set up?
Please arrive early to set your station up between 7 and 7:30pm. We will allocate you a space to set up. The earlier you are the more choice you will get.

What about the music?
We will have a CD player and ipod mixer. So if you have a tune (that relates to the lent theme in some way) bring it along and you can play it.

How will it actually work?
Grace will start at 8pm. Music that people bring will provide a soundscape while everyone walks round and interacts with the stations for as long as they like. Then when you’re done the café wil be open as normal. It’s that simple.

I’m not sure I can do anything up to standard
Please don’t be shy or think what you do won’t be good enough. It can be really simple. Just work with an idea. We value creativity, participation and risk so go for it.

I need help
If you want to bounce your idea of someone else or if you need some technical stuff (a TV or slide projector for example) then e-mail us

Do I need to let you know what I am doing in advance?
No. We quite like the element of surprise so do just turn up and set up your station.

Can I come if I haven’t got a station?
Of course everyone is welcome whether or not you have done a station. But if we all think that way it may be a very short grace!

some of the stations were:
the gate - lent blog description | pic
40 - si smith's wonderful slide set 40 - pic
give - animation on lent blog | pic
calm - pic
game - pic
searcher - mike's debut video sequence the searcher - pic
naz's picture - pic
fairtrade - pic
stones - lent blog entry | pic
how not to observe lent, using a story from Noel Streatfeild's autobiography (see below)
cards with pictures of items which may or may not be essential

(anyone remember any others?)

how not to observe lent

A meditation based on chapter 5 of "A Vicarage Family".

This is a story of three sisters in the year 1910, Isobel aged thirteen, Victoria aged twelve and Louise aged ten. Their vicar father has decided the Lent discipline they must follow -- no sweets or sweet food except on Sundays. He has permitted them to attend a birthday party during Lent because they are about to move house.

Victoria is in fact Noel Streatfeild, the author of the book.

Some questions to think about (if you don't have enough of your own):

Lent observance is a self-imposed discipline which is an end in itself -- unlike, for example, a slimming diet which has practical value. Unquestionably some people find this discipline valuable. But does it have the same value if it has been imposed by somebody else?

If you break your discipline, for whatever reason, what should the consequences be?

Is it better to make a stand, or to keep your discipline to yourself?

Apr 06 - spiritual health

spiritual health was inspired by renovare. renovare was founded by richard foster who suggests that to be spiritually healthy you need a balance of six streams or traditions. we made a wheel with six spokes on the floor and had stations on each of the six streams followed by an examen. it was a debut for a parachute at grace - an example of balance...

Had titles for each station that have our word on the front and the renovare word on the back.

Each station will have stories from the life of Jesus; an object/image; a question/action. Stations:
contemplative
charismatic
social justice
incarnational/sacramental
holiness
evangelical

Service outline
Prayer/focus on God/song

Ambivalence about maturity

Parachute experience/game

To be mature is to be Christlike
Introduce stations

Stations

Introduce renovare
Uncover words on stations

Examen – individual reflection

Importance of community
Questions for future of grace

Closing prayer

Apr 06 holy week - holy ground installation by paul hobbs

paul hobbs installation holy ground ran from the thursday to saturday of holy week. a collection of shoes with stories from christians all round the world made for a simple and powerful piece. a highlight was the footwashing service on the thursday evening when people were invited to take off their shoes and add them to the installation with their own story.

jonny blogged about it with links to where you can get the catalogue from the exhibition or book it.

there are some pics in the gracelondon flickr group

may 06 - communion by numbers

when people arrived they were given a drink and stood chatting in the waiting area. then we all went through and sat down at tables. at each table were 9 numbered envelopes. every time a bell rings the table open an envelope and follows the instructions. the envelopes sort of followed the basic liturgical structure of the communion service. it worked brilliantly - we set people off and they were away - no leadership required... the envelopes went something like...

1. introduce yourselves, slips of paper with questions to ask each other

2. iconic candle making kit with a night light, strip of acetate with the last supper image on and two paper clips. give thanks for things that have happened this week.

3. text a confession on your mobile phone to the number prefacing it with the word confess (an absolution with the words you are forgiven is triggered by the keyword confess)- thanks to jason djang for the inspiration for this who had IM confession recently that he told us about, which i'll blog about separately when i get round to it.

4. read story of thomas - share stories of doubt and surprise

5. peace - toast glasses proposing a toast of affirmation to someone round the table

6. share what you are thankful for about jesus. share what you want to remember about jesus. use images of christ enclosed to spark discussion

7. share bread and wine round the table after listening to the prayer. a bottle of wine and bread were already in place on each table (duncan wandered around doing bill's prayer).

8. invite the group to share concerns for prayer - take one of the night lights and light it for each prayer

9. go and collect a plate of hot towels (the kind you get after a curry - we got some from a warehouse locally!) - say a blessing and use the towel

the texting confession was brilliant! the absolutions didn't come until later during the sharing of bread and wine - coincidence or divine intervention?!

the hot towels was another great idea...

i'm sure this will become a grace regular service. it could have as many takes as you like...

some photos are in the gracelondon flickr group

Jun 06 - Spirit Labyrinth

we mowed a labyrinth in the grass at the front of st marys with a focus on pentecost. in the centre we had some oil so that you could pray for the next person to arrive to be filled with the spirit of god by anointing them with oil. we gave some simple guidelines for walking. walking intenitonally and prayerfully takes a bit of getting used to. the first time you walk a labyrinth can be a bit weird. and it's good to make the most of the centre as a space for prayer/being still or whatever.

there are lots of photos in the gracelondon flickr group. mark has a lovely one from the top of the tower with people walking on it. jonny has created a set - one man went to mow

he has also blogged instructions on how to mow a grass labyrinth if you are interested.

this labyrinth was actually a trial run for a labyrinth we had been invited to help set up for the minet park festival with arocha in southall. this one proved harder to create (the grass was pretty scraggy) and was more complicated to mow as it was the chartres pattern. there are a couple of pics of that in the labyrinth set mentioned above.

Jul 06 - grill

Aug 06 - Greenbelt

At Greenbelt we built a shed worship installation and ran Communion by numbers - see May 06

Shed Obscura

Grace at Greenbelt on Vimeo

This is the building of the Grace installation at Greenbelt; The creation of a "shed obscura". The idea was that inside the shed you could see a projection of the outside world but upside down.

Viewers were invited to sit in the shed and reflect on this upside down kingdom, and the way in which the Christian faith requires us to see things differently. Those who spent time in the shed were invited to write comments on the outside - most said it was an amazing experience.

2006 - 2007

Flyer 2006-2007

sept 06 - new year

the grace 2006 season got off to a fine start. a chilled service reflecting on summer gone and the year ahead.

1. chill - quiet down in god's presence - use the video image of the jar settling from the CD ROM with tune in chill out | sing this is the house of god from one of the late late service albums | play lovebleeps by laura b from the mini album midi a minuit which i got at the big chill this summer with the lyric 'i am calling to you' (could become a grace classic tune i think), and give space to call out to god for the new year... also light three candles to pray for the presence of the father, son and spirit. use the prayer we are hungry from alternative worship | sing heal me from another of the late late service albums (!)

2. examen - look back over the summer using an examen type thing - talk in twos and then reflect on your own on your consolations and desolations... these were the questions jen put together

Consolation – for what moment of this summer am I most grateful?
Desolation – for what moment of this summer am I least grateful?

When did I give and receive the most love?
When did I give and receive the least love?

When did I feel most alive?
When did I most feel life draining out of me?

When have I had the greatest sense of belonging to God?
When did I have the least sense of belonging?

What was this summer’s high point?
What was this summer’s low point?

For what moment of this summer am I most grateful?
For what moment of this summer am I least grateful?

played the tune before from panamerican's quiet city which was perfect with the line let those memories come.

3. looking forward part 1 - revisiting the grace ethos - create, particpate, engage and risk. mike had a wonderful meditation/reflection and piece of liturgy reworking the doors liturgy from the book Alternative Worship. This was the meditation...

About 18 months ago in Grace we started a process of exploring who we were, what we had achieved, where we were going. We summed up several weeks of reflection, thought and prayer into three words. We described the three words as our ethos.
• Create
• Participate
• Engage

And as we learned more about Jesus and our community we found that there were new possibilities in an old, a 10 year old, situation. And where we might previously have made an easy, obvious choice, following the rules of our tradition, we became aware of new options in old situations.

And we found that our new option had the word "truth" written all over it.

But the word "truth" is hard to take. The truth might be uncomfortable. The truth might mean changes we hadn’t anticipated which would shake us out of complacency. We added a fourth word to our ethos:

• Risk

And as we went on facing daily decisions we became aware that any given situation has a choice of doors to go through. The obvious, familiar one, and the new one you're vaguely aware of.

That second door is smaller and harder to find than the familiar big door of comfort and self-satisfaction.

The second door is not directly in front of us - it is in semi-darkness and may be covered in cobwebs until we turn around and find it.

But as we reach out for the second door we find that the word "truth" is suddenly a lot more attractive. We find that the decision to reach for the other door has somehow given us a sense of being "bigger".

If we go through that door, and take the hard option, we find that we were wrong about the fear of the small, restricting room of the truth ... we find the biggest surprise that our hearts can contain ... because on the other side of the small, dimly lit door is a wide open space. And that wide open space is freedom ... it is the Realm of God.

And once we've been through that door we get used to its feeling, and in more and more situations we begin to see the second, smaller door, and we realise that the big door that we're used to going through actually led to a small room ... a kind of prison.

But now that we're learning to find the small door. We are starting to know the price of putting our ethos centrally into the life of Grace.

As a way of re-committing ourselves to our ethos at this, our ‘start of year’ service, a series of responses:
Doors 3

4. looking forward part 2 - personal dreams put to flight - this idea was lifted from laura of sanctus1 who led worship on the emerging churches tour and got everyone writing dreams on paper and making origami birds. she kindly sent me the origami template afterwards. steve has posted his reflection that introduced it summer is over on his blog and in the liturgy section. this looked fabulous and we projected images of moving skies and so on behind it which was fun.

5. prayers and blessing - some simple prayers/blessing led by ben...

Sometimes we can have dreams and goals that were founded on grand ideas. But like the seed on rocky soil, they sprout up quickly and then wither; it seems right for them to die

- And then there are those that are those dreams, visions, aspirations, that are planted so deeply in us that they can feel like part of God's dreams for us.

No matter how low the flame is burning, no matter how little the shoot has sprouted since the seed first took root in our being, our heart still sings out somewhere when we bring it back to mind.

These are the dreams that we want to take flight. To re-engage with the great migration.

Dear God

Just as you don't break a bruised reed or snuff out a smouldering wick, graciously let our plans and dreams take flight.

- Give us a sense of how we can coax it back to life

- Incubate it

- Let us see a next step & the manageable close at hand & And the glorious dream maybe far off.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ
Amen

oct 06 - vox

running order
1. People come in to see the visual - a soap box and microphone projected + CD of speeches for atmosphere.
2. Intro the theme
3. Set the soap box idea up - People given a number to make their great speech. Tickets will have a time on. 8.15,
(possibly making provision for people to prepare before giving their speech)
4. Explore a range of ideas in three groups
A) still small voice
B) those with a voice those without a voice
C) speaking beyond words
7. Some all together feedback
Speaking out when you can't be heard
Verbalising out loud - what's it like?
8. reading and liturgy from Ezekiel
9. brandy snaps ritual (never actually happened)
10. Thanks and goodnight

Intro words
In the beginning God said... and there was - language makes the world

The heavens declare the glory of God... day after day they pour forth speech... there is no language where their speech is not heard - the world speaks

In the beginning was the word - Jesus God's great speech?

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have no love then I am only a resounding gong - empty words

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in your sight - appropriate words

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer one another - words of grace

A gentle tongue can break a bone - powerful words

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones - healing words

The tongue is a fire a world of evil amongst the body - poisonous words

A time to keep silence and a time to speak...

Welcome to Grace. You've probably guessed that tonight's theme is speaking. This is the first in a series of three service on speaking, listening and seeing (Because we want to use the stained glass the seeing one won't be until the summer).

As we have talked around notions of speech, words, speaking, comunicating we have realised it's a big subject. There are also lots of scriptures about it, a few we've touched on here. At the next Gracelet we'll particularly look at some proverbs that touch on speech. But for tonight we have narrowed down somewhat to speaking out...

The track we have just listened to is called Libations by Ursula Rucker. You probably haven't heard of half the people she cites but what we liked about it is that it just lists and lists people who have spoken out for liberation whether in literature, art, sculpture, music, preaching or whatever form. Not all the people listed are Christian but as Christians we have a pretty good heritage in this regard whether we think of the prophets, MLK, Wilberforce, Shaftesbury, Jesus or whoever... We stand in a long line of speaking out with the question hanging over us - what do we want to speak out about?

It may be a bit cheesy but we have got a room with a soapbox in. And we'd like to invite you or as many are brave enough to make your great speech for one minute or so. Before you get worried we are not going to pump the sound out so it will be just you. We'll be able to see you on the screen but not hear you. You'll have a few minutes to think but you could speak out about injustice in Uganda, the environment, Jesus and what he calls us to, generosity, the church, the poor, racism... Why? Well it seemed a good idea when we were planning. We'll talk about it later in the service but we think there's something scary about speaking/voicing something out loud, but there's also something good about it.

The way it will work is that we have a series of tickets (much like the supermarket deli counter) with times on. Go to make your speech so that you are at the door at your time. You have about a minute which isn't long. I'll knock on the door when your time is up if you go on too long! Not everyone has to do this - we don't want to tip anyone over the edge. But equally it will be a shame if no-one speaks...

(hand out tickets)

feedback questions
We thought it might be worth reflecting on your great speeches...

Turn to a neighbour and tell them what you spoke about (or would have).

(Altogether)
How did it feel to verbalise out loud?
How did it feel to be speaking and not be heard?
We set up a cheesy soapbox - I doubt any of us want to get on a soapbox... Turn to your neighbour again and think what ways might we be able to speak out?

nov 06 - listening

The service began with a sound montage – sounds of traffic and people in conversation gradually became more intrusive and more complex, with voices of politicians and rap bands interwoven. Instead of the normal peaceful start to the service, this noise intruded and made us feel uncomfortable. It was noise to get away from, the unpleasant clamour of a busy and complex world. It grew to a crescendo and then abruptly stopped. And the silence was very sweet afterwards.

Welcome, opening prayer, songs of worship

Soundscape – six CD players around the room played sounds simultaneously – a car alarm, radio 4 news bulletin, ‘Jesus’ blood never failed me yet’, a baby crying, the sound of the sea, and the voice of a needy person who wanted to be listened to. We were invited to walk through the intersecting sound zones and to reflect on the experience. Which was easiest to listen to? Which sound did you want to escape? Where was God? Which needed to be attended to?

Reflection on the soundscape
News Bulletin "Meanwhile, several thousand miles away"
There's something strangely soothing about the news sometimes. Strange, when you think what awful things we hear about hour after hour. Can we ever hear God speaking in the litany of what Nick Cave calls "routine atrocities"? Are we driven to prayer, or lulled back to sleep?

Baby "I want to have some of your attention, give it to me"
Some things have been designed to grab our attention, not always in a pleasant way.

Alarms "Warning! Go back to sleep! Now!"
Something else designed to grab our attention in the middle of the night. But who pays the blindest bit of attention to a car alarm. There's a place for the urgent a case for too much urgency...

The Sea "Peace at last"
Calming... meditative. Do you feel closer to God when sat by the gentle ebb and flow? We often think of being closer to nature as being closer to God. But was Jesus closer to his father on a mountain top, or in a sea of human need and hunger?

Phone Conversation "Don't go ... not yet"
It may be heavier going than the sounds of nature; so many people with so many needs. But, to risk a little paraphrase; "whenever you listened to the least one of these, my children, you listened to me".

Music "Soothing? Moving?"
The sound of a tramp recorded near Waterloo and set to music. He was destitute but still able to sing "Jesus' blood never failed me yet". Sometimes music can point us to God with very specific declarations of faith and devotion. And, sometimes, perhaps God can slip under the radar with a rather less obvious message.

How good are we at listening to other people? A reading

Discussion
In groups of three and four we discussed a couple of questions:
• What does it feel like to be really listened to?
• How can we listen to each other better?
But the discussion had constraints. Each person took three tokens. Every time they spoke they put down one of the tokens, and when the tokens were gone they were not allowed to speak any more. We then discussed this method of discussing! Did you think more about what you were going to say when you knew that your opportunities to speak were precious? Did you listen more carefully? Did it affect the way you contributed to the conversation? How did you feel to have tokens in your hand when other people had used theirs?

Mary Listens … a meditation

Opportunities to think some more about listening to God and listening to self
We were invited to walk around the church and interact with four stations. If people wanted to continue to be silent and still, they could go into the sound-proofed crèche room at the back of the church which was lit with candles.
The stations:
• Obstacles to listening – what stops us listening to God and to ourselves? Take a block from the Jenga tower and write on it what stops you listening to God. Add it to the top of the tower, and come and collect it later
• Where do you hear God? Write or draw on a large piece of paper the places where you find it easier to hear God
• Ignatian spirituality – God speaks to us through our deepest yearnings and longings. Put your fingers on the pulse in your wrist. As you ‘listen’ to your heartbeat, listen to your heart and ask yourself the examen questions – for wat moment today am I most grateful? For what moment today am I least grateful?
• God listens to us – read about people in the Bible that God listened to - Anna, Hannah, David, Bartimaeus

A commitment to listen
We were invited to anoint our earlobes with scented oil as a commitment to listen more intentionally – to the world, to ourselves, to God or to others

The service ended with a prayer

Dec 06 - Nine

Nine readings... nine tunes... nine surprises...

"Nine" is the Grace version of the traditional nine lessons and carols. The nine lessons are there, but they are allocated to nine volunteers (or groups of volunteers), each with the task of producing their own reflection or interpretation, including music. In keeping with Advent, expect the unexpected.

The readings are:

Lesson 1: The creation
Genesis 1, vv 1-5, 26-8, 31

Lesson 2: The fall
Genesis 3, vv 8-15, 17-19

Lesson 3: The people who walked in darkness...
Isaiah 9, vv 2, 6, 7

Lesson 4: Isaiah's vision of the kingdom
Isaiah 11, vv 1-3a, 4a, 6-9

Lesson 5: The Annunciation
Luke 1, vv 26-35, 38

Lesson 6: The Nativity
Luke 2, vv 1, 3-7

Lesson 7: The shepherds
Luke 2, vv 8-16

Lesson 8: The Magi
Matthew 2, vv 1-12

Lesson 9: The Word
John 1, vv 1-14

__________________

Bidding Prayer adapted from Christian Aid

This Christmas may it be our care and our delight to hear the story once again, from the first light of creation to the coming of the new light in Jesus. And as we celebrate his coming with words and music, we rejoice in his unending love for all and in the promise of his kingdom of justice.

And we recognise that it is our calling to make that kingdom a reality; and we pray that like Jesus we may be ready to greet the outsider, uphold the rights of everyone who suffers injustice, and seek to change the world through prayer and action.

God our Father and our Mother, we offer you our praise and worship that it may be pleasing to you. And we offer you our lives that you may use them to fulfil your purpose. In the name of your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The People Walking in Darkness (full version with pictures can be found here)

We’re like the kid who puts her hand up to answer a question in the old Sunday School gag. She says, “I know the answer must be Jesus, but it does sound like a squirrel.”

We hear the words light and child and instantly imagine baby Jesus laying in a manger. The reading comes round every Christmas tucked between carols, and we skip over three verses in the middle of the prophecy that don’t sound so Jesusy. We can hardly imagine the wonder and longing felt by the people that first heard Isaiah’s prophecy. We know what this light is like; we’ve got it wrapped up; tighter than any present.

The people walking in darkness…

What do us city dwellers know about darkness? To us, darkness is yellow. It’s the colour of sodium street lights. It drains the world of colour but not of detail.

What would it be like to see… nothing?

To feel isolated and alone?

To live under the control of empires and powers too strong to oppose?

To long for change, but fear to hope that change is possible?

To lose confidence that God has any power to alter the world?

But darkness is also a place of concealment.

A place where we can mask our true selves.

A place to hide the things we don’t like about us.

Perhaps we know darkness after all.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…

Ah yes, the light. We know about that! The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But little lord Jesus no crying he makes. But this baby is also the light of the world. The harsh light of day, penetrator of dark corners, revealer of blind spots who tramples on rose-tinted glasses and heals jaundiced eyes.

This is the light that will not be tamed, controlled or confined. We coo and cluck over the baby in the manger, and attempt to cut God down to size, and make him in our image. For what could be dangerous about a tiny child? Yet the coming light will overturn empires, rule with justice and righteousness, see into the heart of us and save the world. God was born as a boy and made his dwelling among us. That doesn’t mean that because we know babies, we know all there is to know about God.

So watch and prepare for the coming of the light. Greet the coming with joy, and also fear.

Watch and wait. Expect to be surprised. But not comfortable.

Watch and wait.

The Annunciation

Holy is His Name by John Michael Talbot, illustrated with pictures including the following:

An Anachronistic Nativity by Paul Leach

The small hours come and bring with them the sun,
but the darkness is reluctant to give way to anyone.
But night, in itself being an absence of light,
concludes its inherent inferior might,
and concedes that for now, the sun might just be right,
and grudgingly opts to relinquish the fight.
And the sun having won, becomes conscious of time,
so begins to make good on his new chance to shine.

So Joseph wakes up, turns on News 24,
yawns and walks to the mat just inside the front door,
picks up the mail he expected to see,
but decides that his first job is going to be a cup of tea.
Flicks the switch on the kettle, goes to sit on the chair,
that he recently made between trips to Mothercare.
He opens a statement from Lloyds TSB,
casts it aside and reads the one from BT
and just as he ponders why they're serving Nazareth,
the kettle makes clear that it feels that it's had enough
time to boil. So Joseph makes tea.
But his attention is turned to the voice from the TV.

See the strangest thing about a really strange day
is that strange days and normal days begin the same way.
So he turns and considers what this voice has to say,
and how even the most well-woven plans will fray.
Joseph zones out as his brain does the sums,
and although his mind's flailing his face just looks numb.
And Joseph just stands there as minutes stack up,
till the BBC's best fanfare wakes him back up.

Music on the news hits somewhere deep in Joseph's heart
‘cos the news they've just reported has .. blown his world apart.
And whilst the monotone of read news can be something of an opiate,
the epic intermission tunes seems hugely more appropriate.
He walks back to the mail which he left down by the chair
and sees the last unopened letter which he left lying there.
He picks it up although he knows already what it reads,
Opens and reads it and confirms that ... yes indeed ...
He's going to need to go home.

But that's not it. ‘Cos this isn't a journey he'll be making alone.
I think I may have mentioned that he's been going to Mothercare.
And there's only really one reason why a man his age goes there.
See, Joseph has a girlfriend, who's all set to be his wife,
but she currently playing host to a secondary life.
And this half-life is aspiring to be a full life of its own,
for about the same time as Joseph needs to be back home.

Watch the dark clouds bruising
Bellies flushed with water
They swell above your heads

So now we move the sun a few degrees through the sky
just to signify that some hours have gone by.
We rejoin our protagonists just as they've finished packing
and as we step back in, we see brave faces close to cracking,
hid behind facades and charades is the hard realisation
that their will to see this through is lacking.

Pull your coats around you
Feel the wind cut through them
Scraping at your bones

But still the door closes.

And Joseph thinks he knows if those who chose this could be shown his
situation the decision would be reached then to postpone it.
But knows that just for them to see might not inspire empathy
and is actually unlikely to lead to change of policy. And anyway,
he realises his head is in the clouds
and if they're going to get to Bethlehem he needs to hold it down.
Searching their effects for a map he recollects a time when
Mary map-read and what should have taken two days took ten.
He's not falling for the "Leave the map reading to me" gambit again.

Upon successful procurement of a map, they start their quest,
and we'll fast forward this bit and move the sun yet further to the west,
to a time where crepuscular light
soaks the dusty trail they're on, heralding the night.
Their elongated shadows stretch across the panorama
It's time for moratorium.

Joseph puts his arm around Mary;
He holds her, and she holds him.
Their love seems to burn stronger
when everything else looks so grim.
He looks deep into the eyes of the girl who'll be his wife
and says "There's no-one in the world
I’d rather spend the worst day of my life with than you."
She smiles, and rests her weary head on his shoulder,
and Joseph relaxes, content for now to hold her.

Hold her in the falling rain
Hold him like you’ve never done
Let this be a moment
That you won’t forget
That you won’t forget
That you won’t forget
All your life
‘til you die

So once again the sun peeped his head round the world,
just to be present as the story unfurled,
to examine what went down since he did last night,
and to paint this morning's skyline with vivid orange light,

which found the weary couple, sooner than they'd like,
and announced that it was time to resume their hike.
But Joseph knew today would be much like yesterday
so rolled on to his side and asked the sun to go away.

But the sun is persistent so continues his ascent
and ignores Joseph’s ongoing pleas to relent
eventually accepting the inevitable fate,
Joseph takes the bait, sits up straight and berates
the sun for interrupting his rest.
Unjust altercations seem endemic to the stressed.
As rationality resumes it rightful place in
Joseph’s mind, he recognises that they need to make haste
‘cos they're behind.

They get up and they set off much the same as before;
instead of leaving a house though, they're leaving a floor,
and beckoned now by the trail they know they have to go
they let the wind fill their sails but the wind is moving slow.
Do you know what I mean though, where drive is hard to come by?
Destination - current position yields a value much too high?
Well I guess that's how they felt as they set off today,
and the early morning sunlight sees them on their way.

The late afternoon sun however, sees them arrive
filled with elation and glad to be alive.
They go into the first inn they come to in town
and it's true that what goes up must come down,
‘cos they walk away despondently, the last room's just gone.
They thought they'd get a cup of tea, but they've got to carry on,
so they walk on down the road and go to inn number 2,
admittedly a budget affair, but it'll do.
Problem is that this one is jammed full as well
but the bloke behind the counter is happy to tell them
of another one, just down the road,
so off they go again, carrying their load.

As they approach the final inn, the sun departs to see
how Canada’s been getting on and leaves Bethlehem be
And the moon enlisted by the sun shares his light
helping people not to bump into things in the night.

They knock on the door to which they've pinned all their hope
and are greeted by a bloke who wants to throw them a rope
but says he can't. He's got no more rooms,
but wants to help them out on account of Mary’s womb.
He wishes he had something to offer, he says,
and if there's a cancellation in the next couple of days ...

Mary looks at Joseph like he'll know what to do,
and he sort of does: he hugs her, and tells her they'll make it through.
Though he doesn't know that, ‘cos don't forget,
he hadn't read Luke, ‘cos it wasn't written yet.
Mary lets some tears fall now on Joseph’s shoulder,
and Joseph's mind is whirring; he can feel it getting colder.
He despairs and he stares, relied upon, but lost
and he's scared, stood there, too aware of the cost.

Statued close together
A precious, tender moment
A solemn, sombre time

And just as they turn their backs and walk away,
the door opens behind them, this man has something else to say
his face, no longer downcast says "You can't stay right here,
but if you're open to suggestion, I’ve got an idea ..."

Joseph will take anything he says and if he's able
to offer something to them lay it down on the table.
The man says his livestock would be happy to share
the stable round the back if they'd like to sleep there.

Joseph wastes no time and ecstatically accepts;
Mary smiles and wipes away evidence that she wept.
The smell in the stable can't assuage their relief
they get brought a cup of tea, to revisit our motif.
The decor's hardly Hilton, but it's everything they need,
if they steer clear of the wet bit where the cow just weed.
And if their son should come, for want of a cot
they can use the manger, ‘cos that's all that they've got.
Joseph says "I need to know the cow's name if I stay..."
The inkeeper smiled. "His name is Gyp I say"
"Stupid name for a cow" said Joe and sat in something sticky
"Stupid name for a dog, but it didn't bother Vicki"

So once again the two of them embark upon sleep,
both convinced that nothing's going to keep
them awake tonight.
But nothing's ever black and white.
‘cos in the moonlight
Mary senses something's not right.
Wakes Joseph up by squeezing him tight
tells him what's happening, its the fright of his life.
It's the night when his wife to be
gives the right to the life to be
and though this scene is a sight to see
this son is the light they need.

So the small hours come and bring with them the son,
And the darkness will leave, ‘cos the light will have won.

jan 07- set sail

guests mark berry and jem from telford led the service. a great way to kick off and look forward to the challenges of a new year.

jonny interviewed mark about what he is up to in telford (will link to mark's report for the last year when he puts it online). and then mark and jem led us in a reflective worship time on the theme set sail.

candles formed the outline of a boat in the centre of the space and then a line of sand ran across the front of the space with the words set sail and brendan's cross on the floor.

taking inspiration from st brendan who knelt on the beach before setting sail in his small leather boat and trusting the wind of god's spirit to blow him where the spirit willed, it was a challenge to set sail in mission leaving the comforts of known securities and trust ourselves afresh to god. it included a ritual of making a mark in the sand before setting sail.

set sail worship trick has links

st brendan's prayer

prayer attributed to sir francis drake

mark has uploaded a pdf of the text he used

steve's set sail flickr set

aug 07 - Greenbelt Communion by Numbers

We repeated a version of our Road to Emmaus Communion by Numbers service at Greenbelt.

We decided early on that we wanted to do something out in the middle of the festival, bringing worship to a place where festival goers would pass by as the service unfolded. We secured a slot in the arena on a Saturday afternoon, and set about transposing Communion by Numbers from a cafe vibe to a summer afternoon picnic on the grass. We achieved this with windmills, a deckchair, and a scorchingly hot afternoon. Substantial use of the big screen replaced some of the envelopes.

The attached files include the contents of the envelopes we distributed, and the full text of the service, with notes.

Carbon Dreams - Gracelet 22nd April 2007

The carbon calculator used at the service can be found here.

The service ended with the following confession and non-absolution:

For failing to think of the harm done to air, water, land, plants, and animals,
Lord have mercy.
For failing to conserve energy, Lord have mercy.
For allowing ourselves to be saturated by the allurements of a consuming culture, Lord have mercy.
For not being thankful for the gifts God has given, Lord have mercy.

God is faithful and just and forgives everyone who turns to him and repents.
But our sins are against our world as well as God. The world cannot forgive, because it has no voice. All we can do is to amend our ways so that we stop damaging it. We end this service not with a blessing, but with a charge to be a blessing to the world that God has given us as a gift.

How to save the environment (or, how not to sell your soul)

This article started out as a review of the book Heat by George Monbiot about the reality of climate change and how to address it, but it has since evolved into more than simply a review -- I have added some elaborations of my own. Monbiot draws an analogy between the use by humans of fossil fuel, allowing us to live in an amazing way until the environment is ruined, and the pact made by Dr Faustus whereby, in return for a few years of power, his soul is consigned to hell.

This raises the question: what sort of person would sell their soul? I can think of two obvious examples.

Firstly, somebody who did not believe there was such a thing as hell. An analogy can be drawn with people who deny the existence of climate change. Although they are a dying breed now, there are a few such people, who will always point out the evidence that seems to suggest climate change is not a reality (you can always find some if you look hard enough, in the same way that if you look hard enough you can use the Bible to justify racism. The world would be a better place if nobody did either of these things). We can't be certain what will happen, but the probability that climate change will destroy the environment is high -- and who would gamble their own and their children's life and future on short odds?

And secondly, somebody who was convinced they would go to hell no matter what they did. The analogy here is with people who think they can do nothing about climate change. This belief is far more common, and perhaps reasonably so; according to Monbiot, and also other writers such as Mark Lynas, the average cut in carbon emissions required for people living in the UK is 90%. (To get an indication of how much you need to cut your carbon, click here. This calculator isn't perfect but it is one of the best I have seen).

But Monbiot believes that 90% cuts can be achieved, and sets out a plan for doing so. The use of carbon must be allocated fairly, by means of a rationing system. As a result, excessively carbon-intensive processes such as bringing fruit from the other side of the world (as Faustus does) would be priced out of the market.

And to allow us realistically to live within our ration limits, various changes are required. In summary:

- Build new homes and convert existing homes to "passivhaus" standards, meaning that they require no active heating or cooling systems. This requires improved building regulations. Also replace Portland cement with artificial geopolymeric cement (Monbiot accepts that cement is not a very interesting subject).
- Produce half of grid-based electricity from gas-burning power stations, with capture and storage of carbon dioxide produced, and the other half from offshore wind and wave machines.
- Redesign coach travel to make it the most effective way of transporting people. Move freight to the railways. Run road vehicles off batteries, which can be switched and recharged at "filling stations".
- Replace shopping in large stores with virtual shopping, i.e. home delivery.
- Aviation. Monbiot has no solution -- his message is "you can't". I suggest one of my own: limit the number of flights to a sustainable level (perhaps one-twentieth of the current level), and allocate them according to the benefit they will bring. This will enable international skill-sharing through organisations such as VSO to continue.

What is needed to bring about this absolution from hell? As Monbiot argues, the technology exists; what is lacking is human and political will.

So now it is time to take action. There are many things you can do -- but start by writing to your MP to ask them to support a Climate Change Bill with targets strong enough to prevent global average temperatures from rising to more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, this being a critical threshold. A particular requirement is for the Climate Change Bill to cover aviation and shipping. You need to be quick -- the consultation deadline is the 12th of June. See the DEFRA web site for more information.

If you are short of time, Friends of the Earth has a proforma message you can use here. But individual letters are usually more effective.

I will return to Dr Faustus for the final word. He is given numerous opportunities to repent, even after he has signed his pact with the devil. This is how near he gets:

Re-enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL.
Evil Angel. Too late.
Good Angel. Never too late, if Faustus can repent.
Evil Angel. If thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces.
Good Angel. Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin. [Exeunt ANGELS.]
Faustus. Ah, Christ, my Saviour,
Seek to save distressed Faustus’ soul.

So what happens after that? The devil appears and distracts him, and he does not repent.

Don't let yourself be distracted.

easter 2007 - breathe

feb 07 - windows to heaven

Vladimir - Virgin of loving tenderness

grace on saturday 10 feb at 8pm

The appreciation of visible beauty is a necessary, though transitory path towards the appreciation of absolute beauty, which is apprehended only by the soul. John of Damscus

A chance to learn something of the history of Iconography, to see how an Icon is created, to practise drawing in the Byzantine tradition and to use Icons for prayerful meditation with iconographer, Suzanna Rust.

grace saturday april 14th 8pm - stations of the resurrection

grace this month is a 'bring your own station of the resurrection' service. one of the sorts of service we do at grace involves walking around the worship space interacting with stations that have been set up in advance that contain something to cause you to reflect, pray, worship, think, or actively participate in a ritual. These might be as simple as lighting a candle, reading a story, writing a prayer, adding a stone to a pile, looking at a video loop, listening to a meditation, tasting some fruit or whatever. If you’ve never done this before even better – this could be the start of something...

What do I do?
Please bring a station with you on the theme of one (or more) of the resurrection appearances from the list below and/or a tune on an ipod or CD.

1. The Earthquake Matthew 28.2-4
2. Mary Magdalene finds the empty tomb John 20.1,2
3. The disciples run to the empty tomb John 20.3-8
4. The angel appears to the women Matthew 28.5-8 or Mark 16.3-8 or Luke 24.2-9
5. Jesus meets the women Matthew 28. 9,10
6. The road to Emmaus Luke 24.28-35
7. Jesus appears to the disciples Luke 24.36-42 or John 20.19,20
8. Jesus promises the Spirit Luke 24.44-49
9. Jesus commissions the disciples John 20.21-23
10. Jesus breathes the Spirit in the upper room John 20. 22.23
11. Jesus reveals himself to Thomas John 20.24-29
12. Jesus appears at the lakeside John 21. 9-13
13. Jesus confronts Peter John 21.15-19
14. Jesus and the beloved disciple John 21. 20-23
15. Jesus appears to the five hundred 1 Cor. 15.3-6
16. Jesus commissions the disciples Matthew 28: 16-20
17. The ascension Acts 1.3-11
18. Pentecost Acts 2.1-11
19. Jesus appears to Saul (Paul) Acts 9.1-18 or 1 Corinthians 15.8

for more information, if you want to bounce your idea of someone else or if you need some technical stuff (a TV or slide projector for example) then e-mail mike on mike.rose@btinternet.com.

the stations were:
[please add a description of your station if you did one]

ice candle with the cheryl lawrie's easter liturgy printed out and these words beneath inviting prayer -
Watch the ice melt...
Think of a situation that could do with some resurrection
Pray for the resurrection to come

phone book with 500 names circled and a letter of invitation from thomas in times of doubt to ring any of them up if you needed reassurance on the reality of the resurrection of jesus.

a computer slide sequence (QT video) of the easter art of he qi

Jesus appears to Saul (Paul)/ Road to Damascus A station based on an Examen. Starting with a challenge as to how we hurt Jesus, bright lights triggered as you approach a sign "Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute me?"

An installation inspired by This Joyful Eastertide:

Had Christ, that once was slain,
Ne'er burst his three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain:
But now hath Christ arisen!
Jesus broke free from death to enable all people to break free from what imprisons them.
What imprisons people today? What can you do to free them?
And what imprisons you? What can you do to break free?
The installation used articles from Amnesty International on Guantánamo Bay and forced child labour, and human trafficking.

photos:
damascus road | art of looking up | alleluia

Lent Blog 2007

For the past four years, Grace has created a lent blog. A different person each day posts a thought, a reflection, an image, a reading - anything to allow us to pause and connect with the season.

This year's blog will run from 21st February to 8th April.

We welcome contributions from anyone who has been to Grace - the more people the better. If you would like to contribute, please email Jen on jenbaker[at]btopenworld[dot]com. Let me know if there are any dates you would like to do, or would like to avoid.

How to post on the Grace Lent Blog 2007

This guide will hopefully explain how you can post on the Grace lent blog for 2007.

Get an account

To post on the website you will need to create an account. Click here to go to the registration page. Enter a Username and your email address, then follow the instructions in the email you receive.

Before you can create a blog post the permissions on your login need to be changed. Please email Adam and let him know your user name and he'll set the permissions.

login and start a new post

Once you have an account and the permissions are set, then you are ready to post.

The first step is to login - use the Login/register link on the left hand side of website, enter your username and password.

Once logged in you will see a fairly blank page telling you how long you have been a member. On the left a new box has appeared with your user name as the title at the top of it. In this box click the link 'create content'. The next page gives you the option of creating a story or an image. Click on 'Story'. This will give you a blank form to create your blog post.

Entering your post and formatting it

First thing is to give your post a title. Enter your title in the box at the top of the form.

(Next ignore the 'blog cats' drop down box - it can only be set to Lent Blog 2007)

Then type (or cut and paste) your post into the main 'Body' box.

You can format your text by adding simple commands. To find out more you can look at the 'More information about formatting options'.

have a look at this image for more clues:

click on the image to see full size

adding images

(This assumes you have the image you want to add on your PC)
To add an image into your text, position your cursor at the postion you want the image to appear and press the green cross at the bottom of the box.

A pop-up window will appear. In this new window click on 'Add Image' in the top left of the window.

In the next form that appears, give your image a Title and Description. Find the image by pressing the 'browse' (or 'choose file') button. Find the image on your computer and select it. Once you have chosen the image, and entered the information press 'Submit'.

This will take you back to the first page in the pop-up window. Now scroll down the list to find your image by its title, click on the title. At the bottom of the window a new set of options appears. Choose if you want your image to appear fullsize or as a thumbnail, then press 'insert image', this will close the window and put a line of code, wrapped in square brackets [], into your text. Next time you preview your entry you will see your image appears where this line of code is.

Preview your post

Once you're happy with your post you can preview it by clicking the preview button at the bottom.

This will show your entry with the form at the bottom for you to make corrections and changes.

You can keep previewing as many times as you like.

You must submit your post before you leave, otherwise it will not be saved.

click on image to see full size

submitting your post

To save your post you press 'Submit' button at the bottom of the page.

your entry will appear on the front page of the website and at www.freshworship.org/lentblog07

All done? or did you get something wrong?

That's it... all done and dusted... Unless you've made a big mistake!

In that case whilst logged in go to the page for your entry, this can easily be got to by clicking on the title of your post on the front page.

At the top of your entry there will be tabs for view and edit. Press edit and you'll see the editing form to correct your mistakes.

Tell your friends

Of course once you are really finally happy, tell your friends. email them the link for the lent blog: www.freshworship.org/lentblog07 - they can also pick up the RSS feed using the orange XML button of the lent blog page.

march 07 - body

one finger one thumb one arm one leg one nod of the head stand up sit down keep moving:
what language does your body speak in church? what's the connection between physical and spiritual position?
how do bodies speak when words fail?

throw some shapes at this month's grace - every body welcome.

there will be a traidcraft produce stall in the cafe afterwards, as part of fairtrade fortnight 2007 [26th february - 11th march].
feed your body fairly!

steve's photos on flickr here
mark's got a good duck photo here

setup:

clear benches out of centre, leave nowhere to sit - prevent people from using remaining benches

hide beanbags in aisle behind pulpit for dragging out later

screens to each side as usual - words to songs and liturgies projected

eucharist: set up in middle of space after the peace with 'fat eucharist' [burger and sugary drink] and 'size zero eucharist' [cigarette and bottled water] either side [steve will buy bread and wine and fat and thin parts]

service sheet text:

The theme of this month’s service is Body
We will be thinking about how we use our bodies to relate to God and to each other in God’s presence.
Please excuse the temporary absence of any furniture. This is entirely deliberate and will be rectified soon enough…
We will be celebrating Holy Communion later. While you are waiting to begin worshipping, you may want to consider how you will be physically expressing yourself during the various stages of communion.
What do you want to express during: The Confession? The Absolution? The Peace?
Are you ready to begin?
Good. Now stop slouching … and is that gum in your mouth? Spit it out at once …

cafe:
Wei Hei has offered to run a fairtrade stall at Grace as it is during fairtrade fortnight. So fairtrade wine for the café would be appropriate.

service:

1. start with empty space [nowhere to sit, posture stations set up]. people enter and are standing

2. greeting [steve]

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.

3. welcome to grace [steve]

4. songs - ?, 'this is my body' [jonny]

5. posture stations:
announce stations/where they are, give time for congregation to visit them [steve]
each needs an explanatory sheet/instructions

5.1. discipline/attention/endurance [richard]
5.1.1 pew - sit up straight
5.1.2 prayer stool/kneeler - kneel

5.2. prostration, stretching out - face down:

prostration [steve collins]

kneel down on the floor
bend forward until your forehead touches the floor
stretch out and lie face down

this is the posture of complete submission
abasement
desperation
self-negation
abandonment of self to another
anguish
a pouring out of the inner self upon the ground as an offering
at the feet of god, or another person

in various ordination rituals, the candidate will prostrate themselves
at the feet of the bishop as a sign of submission and self-gift
to the will of God and the church

most churches don't have room for this
the pews or chairs are in the way
the floor is hard and grubby
such nakedness of the soul is embarrassing to the one who prays
and to the rest of the congregation
emotions and clothes will be dishevelled

but the dirt and discomfort is part of the point
this posture implies a need so great
that dignity and comfort are forgotten

have you ever prayed like this?
in church? privately?

prostation bible readings:
Matthew 26:36-39
Exodus 34:5-8
2 Samuel 12:15-17
Luke 8:42-47

5.3. prostration, stretching out - face up
'in the bathtub' relaxing before god - rubber ducks, large beanbag

Jesus, loofah of my soul [Ben Cohen]

I was always a bit of an anxious soul when it came to approaching God. I still can be…

A wise Christian counsel gave me a very helpful piece of advice.

“You need to find somewhere you’re truly comfortable and relaxed.

“Try praying in the bath. It’s hard to get too uptight and anxious while you’re lying there with the bathwater sloshing over the side.”

There are certainly times that sitting upright, back straight, hands together, eyes closed is exactly what’s needed for the discipline.

At other times it’s a good hot bath. Or sitting on a discarded sofa in the back yard with a glass of Jack Daniels (or non-alcoholic equivalent!).

Where could you truly relax, to talk to God - however briefly?

Help yourself to a duck and sit yourself down in the “relaxation zone”. Have a think where you could truly relax in God’s presence…

Name him (or her) and place him/her on the flat palm of your hand.

Now take your new pet home and use to remind you of God in those little laid back moments…

5.4. standing

Praying with your body 1 [ben cohen]

Do you ever feel that something in your life is so overwhelming that you don’t know how to pray about it? Where do you start? How can you stop? Try this simple exercise:

Think of something that you want to bring to God in prayer.
Stand with your body upright. Hands raised above your head, lightly touching.
Now, slowly, deliberately, describe a wide circle with your arms until your hands meet again at your waist.

While you trace the arc, bring to mind each different aspect of the need or situation - let them pour into your mind freely.
It’s as if each facet of what you are praying for is an hour of the day, or the branch of a circular tree.

Take as long as you need to do this; to bring everything to mind.
Then, when you have created the prayer circle, roll it up into a tight ball and hand it back to Jesus Christ.

If you’re feeling brave, keep your hands held out and see what He hands back in return!

Praying with your body 2 [ben cohen]

Praying or worshipping God with your body has gained a reputation among some people as being a bit, well, “woosy” ie for weedy wets. But in Biblical times, there doesn’t seem much that is twee about how they responded to God.
They would throw themselves on their faces in contrition…
Beat their breasts…

And they would “rent their garments asunder”; literally rip their garments in anguish.

It was a sign of rupturing relationship. The High Priest tore his garment at the perceived blasphemy of Jesus’ response
to the question “are you the Son of the Most High?”

Take a piece of fabric with you for the communion. When we confess our sins and receive absolution, tear the cloth with all your might.

There was another symbolic tearing of fabric in the Gospels. When Jesus gave up His spirit to God on the cross, the curtain in the temple - separating humankind from the Holy of Holies - was torn in two. It allowed God’s grace to pour out on the whole World.

The tear of contrition can also be the tear of grace…

5.5. modern seat - the anti-posture posture

The modern seat [steve collins]

sit down
cross your legs
maybe lean forward a bit to pray

the modern church seat is about individual comfort.
it's the non-posture posture.
it says that what you do with your body doesn't matter much spiritually
so park your body and put it in neutral
comfortable but not too much because we don't want you to fall asleep
as if you were on public transport or in a car
[try kneeling on the tube and see what happens]

of course it's ideal for people whose postures are limited by age or infirmity
but all this reinforces the idea that
your body is something to forget about in church
it won’t be required here

there aren't really any bible references for this one

6. then set up the beanbags in centre as usual - get congregation to bring them out of aisle
- bring back some benches too [steve to direct]

7. bible readings - verses illustrating use of postures - several voices to read

8. confession [dean]
think about what posture you wish to confess in
rip fabric obtained from posture station

9. tearing prayer [steve collins]

we have torn ourselves
torn relationships
torn society
torn the earth
and torn away from you

you took our wounding and separation upon yourself
giving your body and your bond with God to be torn instead of us

and at the end,
as you were torn from life itself,
the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom
the curtain separating us from god was torn

10. absolution [dean]

11. the peace - [dean]

12. 'communion bread volleyball' [ben] - get the congregation to play volleyball with an [unconsecrated] loaf of bread. anyone who drops it has to eat a piece before hitting it up in the air again [amazingly, people do this!]. after five minutes of edgy hilarity ben explains that this was to dramatize in a humorous way that it matters how we give out the bread and wine. the actual communion took place with a different loaf and in a more conventional manner.

13. eucharist [dean]

Communion L:iturgy

The Lord is here.

His Spirit is with us.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give thanks and praise.

Father, we give you thanks and praise

that through your Son Jesus Christ

you have created all things.

All that we can see, touch, smell, hear or taste

was made by you, and you saw that it was good.

You give us breath and speech,

that we might sing your praise:

Holy, holy, holy Lord.,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

But we have distorted the work of your hands.

By hating each other we have mocked your creation.

By hating our own bodies we have hated you.

And so your Son took on flesh to revel in your world and to heal it.

Born of a young girl, he walked among us.

He delighted in the warm sun on his face and in the sweetness of honey.

He told stories of foxes and their holes, extravagant feasting,

and the tender embrace of a father for his estranged son.

Through tales of the physical he taught us about the spiritual.

Through his death on the cross he abolished false distinctions between the two,

and offers us fullness of life.

On the night that he was betrayed,

at supper with his friends

he took bread, and gave you thanks;

he broke it and gave it to them, saying:

My body for you.

Take, eat; remember.

At the end of supper, taking the cup of wine,

he gave you thanks and said:

My blood for you, a sign of forgiveness.

Drink; remember.

Send the Holy Spirit on your people

Gather all who share this loaf and cup

to the feast where there is no size zero and no obese,

and our true beauty is revealed.

Through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ,

in the unity of the Spirit,

with all who stand before you in earth and heaven,

we worship you, Father almighty,

in songs of everlasting praise:

Blessing and honour and glory and power

be yours for ever and ever.

Amen

14. blessing [dean]

body service planning notes 1

discussion notes from the first Body service planning meeting:

[steve collins]

some questions to ponder:
is jesus too fat for the catwalk?
should we ban size zero saints?
do they encourage christians to develop eating disorders?
what is a healthy weight for a christian?
why are we worrying about people being too thiin in a society in which people are too fat?
does the one create the other?
if the poor are fat and the rich are thin, what does that say about the food we eat?
is there a connection between the health of our bodies and the health of the planet?
can christians have cosmetic surgery?
why don't evangelists look sexy, if sex sells?
how come friar tuck isn't in the latest version of robin hood?
what happens when the you of you isn't the you you see in the mirror?

_____________________________________

bodies - imperfect and perfect
broken/damaged/disfigured bodies
when bodies break down - how do we deal with it?
disability/death
acceptance of brokenness in old traditions/societies
now we expect to cure

ageing - how we deal with loss of youth - legislation against ageism reveals how we are prejudiced for youth
does scattering/dissolution of extended families rob us of models for ageing?
no more nurturing grandparents - they are busy unlocking equity, spending, having a second youth! they want to be young now, rather than embracing the traditional roles of the old.

do extremes of thinness and obesity reveal inner problems as well as physiological? ie the person is an agent in making themselves that way
exposure to images of beauty - there is a narrow range of aspiration - too narrow for most to achieve - not just about sexual beauty - bodies display values such as self-discipline

the old christian cycle of fast and feast - has become binge and detox - detox written up as a 'spiritual' thing as well as physical
diet books - getting you to believe in new values diet wrapped in a lifestyle package that motivates you - the prospect of a 'new you" gets you through the boredom
but christian discipleship is not in our own strength - whereas a lot of body discipline in the world is about our own control and strength

the images we are sold - link into innate biological preferences that are hard-wired into us, but now are pandered to all the time
[it's similar to how we are built to like sugar, but only to get it rarely - now we get sugar all the time and it makes us ill]

fashion - how does it affect us beyond biological preferences?
is it a matter of sex or a matter of power in society?

makeovers and makeover programmes - 'would like to meet' etc
can be redeeming if they go deep enough
there is a connection between how you look/dress and who you are, who you perceive yourself to be
[which is neglected by world-denying forms of christianity]
a change of appearance can be transformative in other ways
it's about expressing/discovering who you are at all levels

_____________________

the theme running through all our discussions is how we connect the physical with the spiritual
the issue for our service is how do we connect the practical and conceptual
what to do/take away from service?

many christians have suffered from a spirituality detached from body - in head, or emotions
"bodies as living sacrifices" was a positive evaluation of the body
religions that govern the body are not necessarily anti-body
but are making the point that spiritual and physical discipline go together
religious rules are a statement that what you do with your body matters
[religions that say 'do what you like with your body' are actually saying that the body is worthless]

we need to dig out the stuff in the traditions to explore for the service:
praying with body
fasting/feasting
jewish stuff which doesn't have the dualism of some christian thought
is there any helpful monastic material?
we need to concretize our thoughts into things people can do and take away, not abstracted discussions

can we look at pictures of different shaped bodies
maybe different ethnicities/types
to see varieties of human possibility and widen our consideration away from the usual western media images in our heads

body service planning notes 2

discussion notes from the second Body service planning meeting:

[steve collins]

body image:
eating disorders
diets
cosmetic surgery
transvestism
gender dysphoria

wigs/makeup/corsets/weights/diet plans

physical discipline as spiritual discipline:
sex
fasting
exercise
asceticism

ageing:

illness/disability:
how do we value damaged bodies?
what is body prayer for people with disabilities?
sign language

senses:
sight
hearing
touch
taste
smell
as modes of spiritual encounter

_____

or start with empty space
people come in and are standing

intro

invite people to try out different postures

posture stations

then open up issue of posture - get a beanbag, think about posture, who you sit with

think of 3 or 4 ways of praying - eg kneeling, prostration - give people a number and a position
twister prayer

posture stations - straight/disciplined ones as well as comfy/slouchy ones

can we find examples of biblical prayer postures eg gethsemane stretching/prostration
jesus walking
prophets
sitting at the feet of teachers
covering of head - differs from time to time, tied to cultural ideas of showing of respect
standing up, sitting down

medieval - standing, gazing on hosts, listening, smells, kneeling - not pews

what posture do you wish to confess in?

ben: section before eucharist

heart things - that we've be moved by
1. communion - how it's done - body language of eucharist
2. body prayer
play bread volleyball with cheap sliced bread

eucharist:
fat eucharist - big mac, sugary drink
size zero eucharist - cigarette, bottled water
normal eucharist

we are not told to think a particular thing but to eat, drink, bathe etc
treating the spiritual and the physical as one thing

may 07 - communion by numbers:the road to emmaus

if you are unsure what communion by numbers is, see the 2006 version here

The basic idea is that people follow through the worship service together in small groups around tables set up in a cafe style. In the centre of each group is a series of envelopes numbered from 1-10. At the start of the worship we arrange everyone into groups of about 6 people. They begin by opening envelope number 1 and follow the instructions inside. When a bell rings the group open the next numbered envelope and follow the instructions inside. That's it! The beauty of this worship experience is that it doesn't need to be led. It's up to the groups to make it happen.

10 different people produced the 10 different envelopes that followed through the story of the journey to Emmaus in Luke 24. This was the sequence.

1. Chill/preparation - stand and read prayer together, walk around and find a table to sit at while listening to the music track being played

2. Emmaus Road story - read story from bible round table and create iconic candle kit

3. The hiddenness of God (Luke 24:13-16) (see attached file below)

4. Downcast (Luke 24:17-18) On the table were parsley and salt water. 'What has made your soul downcast this week? Spend some time silently reflecting on ways in which you have wounded your life, the lives of others and the life of the world. When you are ready, take some parsley, dip it into the salt water and eat it. The salt water represents tears of repentance; the parsley represents new life that will grow.’ Then we said a confession prayer from Iona together.

5. Storytelling part 1 - sharing our own stories (Luke 24:19-27)

6. Storytelling part 2 - hearing God's story (Luke 24:19-27)

7. Welcoming the stranger (Luke 24:28-29) - 'the flight to Emmaus': we fill in landing cards for one another - it's how we welcome strangers to a country nowadays, and filling in the questions for the person sitting next to you makes you no longer strangers.

8. Breaking bread (Luke 24:30-31) the liturgy we used is here

9. Burning hearts (Luke 24:32-35) (see attached file below)

10 Prayer and blessing

pics here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

may 07 Grace Weekend Communion

This simple communion service was used in Sue and Richard's lounge, prior to moving outside for a barbecue. The confession was written for the occasion, as a response to the Grace ethos. The eucharistic prayer was adapted from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (www.elca.org).

GREETING

Grace, mercy and peace
From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Be with you
And also with you.

CONFESSION

When our thoughtless criticism stifles the creativity of others,
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

When we keep a tight hold on power and deny others the chance to participate.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

When we prefer the safety of our holy huddle to the wideness of God’s world.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

When we decline to take risks for fear that we might fail.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

But when we praise the gifts of others,
share the power that we are given,
engage with communities beyond the boundaries of our comfort,
and risk everything we have for the sake of others,
then, God rejoices in us.

Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent…

Risen Christ,
you have raised our human nature to the throne of heaven:
help us to see and serve you,
that we may join you at the Father’s side,
where you reign with the Spirit in glory,
now and for ever.
Amen

WORD

Acts 1:6-11
Luke 24:44-49

PEACE

The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.

COMMUNION

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right to give unceasing thanks and boundless praise to you, Holy God, ruler of the universe and giver of life. You brought the world into being and declared it good; you made humankind in your image, and entrusted to us the stewardship of all creation.
Despite our failings you showed us mercy. Through your law and the voices of prophets and poets, you called us to faithfulness and justice. You commanded us to remember the poor and the needy, the orphan and the stranger. With infinite generosity you forgave us as we followed selfish goals and ignored your words of love. Never abandoning us to our sinfulness, you came among us and showed us the path of life.
Therefore we praise you, joining the saints and angels in proclaiming your glory, as we say,
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
<

Archive

articles

Alternative Worship - Jonny Baker [article in Relevant magazine for leaders Sept 05]

Alternative Worship - Offering Clues For Renewing Worship - Jonny Baker [in Resource (anglican renewal) in 06]

Alternative Worship and the Significance of Popular Culture - Jonny Baker

Introduction

Alternative Worship

Popular Culture in Alternative Worship

Popular Cultural Resources use in Constructing Identity, Meaning and Habitable Space

Incarnational vs. Ecstatic Theologies of Worship

Icons of the present

Popular Culture ';Out Of Place'; in church

Reframing Tradition

Conclusion

Bibliography

Alternative worship: some notes on getting started - Steve Collins

Embracing Worship 2.0 An Architecture of Participation - Jonny Baker [church times column nov 06]

Hey Man Slow Down - A Creative Journey With Worship - Jonny Baker [for CPAS leaders magazine April 06]

Image of Christ - Steve Collins

Labyrinths - Jonny Baker [column for church times june 06]

Preaching - Throwing A Hand Grenade In The Fruit Bowl - Jonny Baker

Remaking Tradition - Jonny Baker [church times column sept 06]

Ruptures, Improvisation And Tradition - Jonny Baker [for Alove Salvation Army Magazine 06]

spectator article

Using Images in Worship - Jonny Baker

visitors impressions...

Worship A Route To Discovering Lost Wonder - Jonny Baker [for SU in 06]

Worship Outside (In) The Box - Jonny Baker [church times column jan 07]

images

liturgy

And then the silence was broken...

Broken Blessing

Call to worship - from the even greater silence Dec 09

confession

Do you turn to Christ?

Doors liturgy [3]

Ethos confession

eucharist@greenbelt99

welcome and opening sentences

opening prayer

praise

Holy holy holy

confession

gloria

readings:

address

creed

gospel: storytelling of the last supper

eucharistic prayer

bread and wine are shared

I will receive you now

after-communion prayer

intercession

Breastplate

blessing

Expansive language - confession

Expansive language - generous host

Expansive language - housekeeper

Expansive language - Jesus is not lord

Expansive language - opening prayer

Expansive language - quantum

Expansive language - rock

Expansive language - words people parked and words people explored

go back the way you came

God of broken people and places (far i have come far i must go) - Sept06

God of many names - commitment prayer

hagar blessing - feb 08

How good are we at listening to other people? - Nov 06

iconic candle kit

identity

If we slow down... - aug/sept 04

Ignation Examen

Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth and Calvary

landing cards

Welcoming the stranger

Mary listens... nov 06

Miracles Liturgy - Nov04

More words from the life of Jesus - Dec 09

noise

Old Testament Prophecies - Dec 09