a photo of our service 'homecoming' september 1999, based on henri nouwen's book about the rembrandt painting
first in a series based on the "i am..." sayings of jesus.
What type of bread is Jesus? A witty and original spoof.
Reading: The feeding of the 5000.
Song: Bread of Heaven Feed Me
Introduction to the theme and the ‘stations’
1) ‘Eat God’ personal reflection around the reading from John
2) ‘Dough’
3) ‘Our Daily Bread’ a rewriting of the Lords Prayer
4) ‘Bread of justice’ thoughts about global injustice, lighting candles etc
Back together for final thoughts. Listen to song ‘I will receive you now’. Verse(s) from Proverbs.
Needs:
1) Bread – lots of it
2) Bread video
3) Bread slides
4) Dough
5) ‘Blind Date’ theme tune (Mike has video)
an advent labyrinth. photographs here
If Christ is the Way, then the way is also the destination; therefore this labyrinth had no centre except a blood-red cross of tape, and could be walked in either direction. The items and texts about Christ's life were placed on it at random. these included a sleeping bag with a poem; a wooden cross with nails to hammer in; an illuminated globe; a cup of wine vinegar [unmarked, to surprise those who drank it!].
the handout read:
The Way
'I am the Way, also the truth, also the life. No one gets to the Father apart from me'
Labyrinths were a feature of many medieval cathedrals - one of the best remaining examples is found in Chartres Cathedral in northern France. They are marked out on the floor, but unlike a maze have only one path - there are no dead ends. People walked the labyrinth slowly as an aid to contemplative prayer and reflection, as a spiritual exercise, or as a form of pilgrimage.
The inspiration for tonight's labyrinth is Jesus' words “I am the Way”. It's a unique design for tonight that just has a path. There's no centre you're headed to. The point is simply to be on the Way.
There are various prompts on the labyrinth loosely connected to the theme to help you reflect and pray. But the main focus is the path itself, the Way, the road. Take your time, walk slowly, there's no rush, savour the journey. Sometimes we can get overly focused on doing. Tonight focus on being, being yourself, being with God, being on the Way, following the Way. You don't have to do anything - just be.
There's a cafe at the back where you are welcome to sit before or after walking the labyrinth.
'The key to finding your way is to trust the road. Don't leave it when it goes through hard places. Return to it when the wonders of some sight have drawn you aside. When it winds back on itself, there is a reason. There are no shortcuts to be taken, no helicopter rides to lift you out of trouble. The road has its own wisdom and the followers of it eventually arrive at their next destination with many new stories to share.' (from Godzone)
intro/welcome
groups - look up bible passages with doors in and discuss (jonny to do handout sheet)
songs x 2
stations/walkabout
1. door + gate (mike)
2. thin places - use the section on the embody web site and link jonny's laptop up to it so people can post their thin places on line (jonny bring computer + steve bring phone extension to plug in to vestry socket)
3. CS Lewsis 'The Last Battle' reading with door from stable into Aslan's kingdom - anyone who has a copy bring the book (mike to prepare)
4. confession on how doors sometime imprison us (e.g. self hatred) - (mark and anna poulson)
5. matrix - video loop running in side chapel of clip where morpheus offers neo red and blue pill (mark to do video and anna to get pills)
6. keys - jonny to bring keys and meditation/reflection
back together for concluding liturgy (reworked LLS doors thing) + prayer (steve)
1. intro - recap 'home' - mike
2. desert island discs + identity - mike (steve to pass on his ideas to mike
to incorporate)
3. exile is losing even those things dear to us....
show video of contemporary images of exile from news footage etc. - earthquake, kosovo, schindler's list (where they leave their suitcases behind) - mark and adam to produce sequence of images
4. storytelling of exile in the bible - a combination of passages and reflections to include garden of eden, babylon, powerlessness, denial, what gets you through (story and community) etc.. - steve and jonny
5. rewrite a psalm for a contemporary psalm of exile - jonny to intro
6. video of homeless from osbd video from time of our lives - jonny to bring, mike to find appropriate tune
7. wailing wall + intercessions - anna
8. play garbage track 'milk' and lead into 'i will wait'. share bitter herbs a la passover during track.
as people arrive film them responding to questions along the lines of 'what is a contemporary desert? have you ever had a desert experience - what was it?'..... (mark and julia)
after being filmed, people are given a postcard asking them what it feels like to be in the desert. these cards are collected to be used later (steve)
songs and prayer (jonny)
playback video responses (mark)
reading from brian keenan and john mccarthy's book on travelling in desert - positive and negative experience depending on you and your perception (julia)
get people into groups to discuss whether their own image of desert is closer to brian or john's (julia)
darkness, and desert feelings from postcards read out (steve)
desert stations -
1. contemporary desert - car seat and headphones (jen) - this derives from an article by mike riddell in which he suggests that the closest contemporary experience to that of the desert is sitting alone in ones car in a traffic jam listening to music.
2. recognising and letting go of addictions, and learning to depend on God in the desert (mike)
3. passages from scripture of desert (anna)
4. writing prayers in desert sand (justin)
confession (jonny)
concluding ritual - choice to take some desert or water depending on whether you've been inthe desert and want to get out or need to go there (jen)
'easter song'
in the centre of the church, a 'bouncy castle' is set up to symbolise the promised land, obtained through a friend who works at the nearby ymca!
1. think about our dreams for the future. discuss in small groups. write your dream on a piece of paper.
3. cakes ritual
4. bouncing on the bouncy castle. it's meant for under-10s, so only a couple of adults can go on at once.
Greetings all
Part of the service this Sunday will simply be a series of thoughts/images/stories/reflections/poems on the resurrection. we don't see them in advance. people just come having prepared something. Its our homage to the glory days of 'swapshop' or perhaps an alternative 'show and tell'. Be creative, bring along some stuff to share. Please contact anyone you know who could be persuaded.
Order of service:
[
God is Dead + questions about death (a cheerful start) [Mike]
Write your obituary + card sort activity [Steve]
Smash a plate + brokenness [Anna]
Swapshop
Hope [Julia]
John 21 meditation [Steve]
We'll fit in some songs e.g. Wild Hope, Where O Death.., Young men see visions, etc. Any ideas?
Mark/Adam Some pretty specific requests:
Video of old Boris Karloff 'Frankenstein' & B&W 'Metropolis'.
Any video of growth esp. a baby and a plant time lapse stuff - you got the idea!
We'll probably set up cafe style??? Any thoughts? Volunteers to buy coffee and doughnuts?
Meet at Church 6pm prompt. Be there or be somewhere else.
Looking forward
Julia
here's the plan of action for Trinity Sunday:
white light can be made by combining red, green and blue light, so we will set up four spaces; the central one white [the combined godhead], and three others red [jesus], green [father] and blue [spirit].
central space: white light/rubilev 'trinity' icon on computer screen for contemplation/white beads [see below].
three rooms:
spirit room: jonny's pentecost tape [jonny]/large electric fan [mark?]/fire or spirit video [mark]/blue lighting
jesus room: the driftwood cross hung using red washing line/'jesus' blood never failed me yet' soundtrack [mike]/tv+laptop with jesus face images [jonny]/red lighting
father room: bring photos of yourself as a child, or your children. no parents please [everybody]/green lighting/the rest we'd like justin to do around the theme of god as parent and creator [justin]
also in each room:
single colour print of the rubilev icon: one of the red component of the image only in the red room, one of the green component only in the green
room, the blue component in the blue room. [jonny to scan and do the image manipulation/printing]
pices of paper saying 'how do you relate to the spirit/jesus/father?' and 'when you leave this room take a thread with you' [steve collins]
each room has a different coloured thread - people take these back to the central space and plait them together as a friendship bracelet symbolising
the trinity. in the central space are white beads which symbolise ourselves included in the life of the trinity. [anna to buy threads and beads, cut into lengths before service]
order of service:
begin with song: holy holy holy
explain setup
congregation have half hour or so to look at everything
all come back gradually to the central space
explanation of rubilev icon [anna]
three coloured lights turned around if possible to demonstrate combination into white
congregation plait their threads with white beads and contemplate icon
while they do this various readings eg from David Adam [steve c]
song to end: st patrick's breastplate
trinitarian blessing [anna]
three kinds of donuts [mike] and coffee
this was based on the march 01 service 'desert'.
1. vox pops [grace pops] around GB site during day [possibly ice pops given to interviewees as reward and advertisement for service?]
2. give out 'what does being in a desert feel like?' postcards to the queue for service [collect inside]
3. hexstatic 'deadly media' video intro
4. play back vox pops
5. positive and negative deserts - mccarthy/keenan reading
6. group discussion
7. darkness, responses on the feelings cards read out as a meditation [luminous stars ceiling]
8. stations time:
a] central station - sand on tarpaulin, ice block suspended above - write prayers in sand [incl. justin's explanatory postcards]. the melting block of ice was originally part of a ritual for a combined jubilee 2000 service at vaux. we had no photos of it, so looked for an excuse to do it again!
b] solitude - people listen on headphones to cd players [a disc labelled 'traffic island discs' cf radio programme 'desert island discs'] in front of a big screen with back projection of driving a car - in a traffic jam on the north circular in london on the way to ikea!
c] write your own psalm
d] addictions, as revealed by experience of withdrawal - mike's text, steve's luxuries/necessities cards
9. final ritual - take sand for your pocket [from the central station]/take an ice cube
this was based on 'i am the bread' october 2000. photos here.
'what type of bread are you?' cards handed out to queue [steve c]
intro & share results of cards, 'blind date' music/video [mike]
bible readings re bread [jackie to find, others to read out.]
stations:
dough [jen and anna] - Kneading dough to think about patience and suffering.
'give us this day our daily bread' - luxury/necessity cards - several sets plus ancillary writing [steve c]
bread of justice [mike]
eat god - The central station is all kinds of bread. There are quotations from the Bible on little flags stuck into the bread, for people to think about as they eat.
Proverbs 30 8-9 reading, lord's prayer, end blessing [justin]
songs [jonny]