Tonight at HTGP we looked at Matthew 5 were Jesus calls his followers to be salt and light where they are.

In addition to listening to the passage and considering what it means to be salt and light (listen to Margaret’s homily here) we also said goodbye and blessed Angela, Esther and Josiah as they move on to a new stage of ministry elsewhere in the parish. It was an emotional time.

Tonight I felty our stations during Open Space  worked well with the passage.
We had 2 bowls of crisps (Salt n Shake crisps .. the ones which are not salted and the salt comes in a  little blue bag); one bowl was salted and the other wasn’t. The station asked people to taste crisps from each bowl and consider whether they, as salt, are in the mix of their communities flavouring and being good news or whether they are hiding in the little blue bag which could be various activities or places.

The other station used Glo sticks; the type that need to be cracked and shaken before they emit their light. The station asked people to take, crack and shake the glo stick while pondering and asking God ‘Are there places in my life that I need to allow you to crack and shake me a little so that you can shine brighter in my life?’

It seemed people were struck and challenged by these thoughts and the discussion time afterwards took these themes a little deeper.

We ended tonight service with prosecco and cake … a good way to celebrate a changing of ministry as well as acknowledging that we are all created in God’s image … and as such all contain God’s light … and that sometimes we need cracking to allow that light to shine.

1801 continues next week  with the words of Jesus suggesting plucking out our eyes and cutting off out hands is better than sinning …. I wonder what creative stations I can come up with to get us thinking on that …. why not come find out!