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