After reading Jonny’s Lent thought here I have been looking around me differently, looking to see what I will notice in the familiar.
I walk past this alley everyday but had never noticed it before until I took my camera on my prayer walk around Rochester. Things seem to become invisible in the everyday. I sometimes wonder if I have a massive blind spot of familiarity that needs healing.
this has appeared near the cathedral recently – its quite stunning and you can see it in better detail if you click on the picture.
One of the more innovative and exciting shop fronts in the High Street is Nucleus.
To quote from their website: ‘NUCLEUS ROCHESTER is a unique temporary retail outlet showcasing a huge array of affordable creations by Medway based artists, designers, musicians, writers, arts graduates and students.’
It’s been fun to pop in regularly as different Medway artists are displaying their work. I think I am correct in saying that this is a one of a kind location where local artists have an audience. The pieces on display are creative, beautiful, stunning and affordable.
I popped in today and found out that they are having an Art Auction on Thursday at 7.00pm with viewing starting at 6.00pm. The timings work great for me as I usually attend Evensong on Thursday, which this week will be over just after 6.00pm, and so I intend to pop along to see what happens and whether I can win with a bid on an original piece of work.
I’m mentioning this here as I wonder whehter they may be others who could be interested.
Being in the cathedral over the Dickens weekend has been an amazing experience.
I have chatted with people. Prayed with people. Wept with people.
I have been amazed by how people needed to be invited to enter the sanctuary and approach the high altar. Even with an invite many felt they did not wish to, but instead stayed behind the invisible rail (the rail had been removed to allow access).
In the waiting installation I have left two books with no instructions other than a title of ‘I am waiting for …’. Some of the writings have been ‘gifts from santa’, ‘the end of term’ which are important. Others have been deep and moved me to tears.
This weekend I have wept with and been moved to tears by a number of situations, and ask you to join me in prayer for:
the Portugese woman who is feeling lonely, missing home and feels God has abandoned her
the retired lady who did not wish to go home, but stay with God where she felt ‘alive again’
the young boy who wrote ‘I am waiting for my daddy to come home because I miss him so much’
The retired gentlemen who cried because he felt he was not ‘good enough’ to go near the high altar
The new dad who was ‘gobsmacked by God’ just by walking into the sanctuary
The last two days have been exciting and a privilege. There is a lot for me to think about. How do we support people such as this – should we support them? How can we enable people to share what they need to share. The big question for me – why were people so reluctant to walk into the sanctuary, why did they need an invite?
The young woman who wrote ‘I am waiting for my cancer treatment to end’
I am preparing myself for the Dickens Festival in Rochester.
Last year 10 000 people passed through the cathedral over the weekend; and so it is an amazing opportunity to share something of the amazingness of God.
For the past couple of days I have been drawing things together for an Advent installation to be placed around the High Altar. I have collected various photos of waiting, from pregnancy to bus queues to kettles to cakes rising. These photos will be on four display boards which will flank the high altar.
In front of the altar will be a variety of cushions and people will be invited to sit and wait. We shall also be giving away this postcard in which Ben has been kind enough to allow us to use his striking image for advent.
I don’t know what will happen, or whether people will sit and wait and allow themselves time to engage with God. They may and it may be quite powerful for them, and then there again the idea may be off-putting for people. I am definite, though, that unless we take the risk and have a try at something different then we will never know if something like this will help people engage with God.
My prayer for the people passing through the cathedral this weekend is that they may take time to allow themselves to be found by God.
I had an interesting day in London today with a couple of meetings which I think are likely to be my final YFC engagements.
It feels odd, but not as odd as I thought it might. In fact the long drawn out leaving thing has enabled me to focus quite well on the future. Rather than a sudden ‘all change’ the gradual letting go of YFC and the gradual taking up the reigns of thinking about something new are working quite well for me.
I met with Luella this morning at Waterloo and we wandered over to the Southbank Centre for coffee and to talk about how things are progressing with Basingstoke YFC. While there we came across Volume which looked great but I feel the need to return in the evening with my children to see it properly. I think we’ll do that when Sarah goes to Soul Survivor with her youth group.
As we sat and watched people engage with Volume, yet again there were 2 distinct reactions and quite uniformly these reactions separate into adult and children. Adults were trying to ‘get it’, to understand the experience or to be able to explain it. The most beautiful reaction I saw was a girl of about 5 or 6 gracefully dancing between the speakers and lights while flapping her arms like an angel or a fairy. This little girl had it sussed – this was not for explaining or understanding – this was created to enjoy.
There is a sermon there somewhere!
I had another great (but much drier) day in London today to meet up with a few people and spent some quality time with Simon at Flat White before having a fantastic buffet for lunch in China Town (YFC ministry is a tough life!)
After meeting with Simon I had arranged another meeting near the Tate Modern which meant I was able to pop in on The Street and Studio exhibition which runs until august 31. This a great exhibition and well worth the visit if you have a chance.
There are a whole series of photos called ‘strangers passing’. Photos have been taken of people walking along the street, some realising that they are being photographed, and some not. I found this room quite stunning in its simplicity. The anonymity of these people was quite intriguing and I found myself wanting to know more about their stories, where they were going, what they had come from, what the smile was about, what had caused them to frown.
This natural human inquisitiveness was awoken by just a few photos. I was struck also by how just the odd visit to London (or is it everywhere) can force us into the anonymity that I was uncomfortable with in the photos. It does only seem to be in London where I can travel in such close proximity with people and yet be universes away from each other as we avoid any eye contact like the plague! It is like we all think we are going to spontaneously combust if we dare to make eye contact with each other.
On the way home today I tried to look at people – but no one was having any of it, people would rather stare at their feet than make eye contact with each other! Seems weird that in the lonely city people chose to protect that loneliness.
I managed to catch the Lure of the East exhibition at the Tate Britain last week.
The guide to the exhibition starts:
Private travel from Britain to the Middle East was rare before the 1830s, but travel for warfare, diplomacy, trade and religion had been going on for centuries. While outside Europe, these early travellers and residents assumed ‘Oriental costume’ for different reasons. Many believed themselves to be safer when dressed similarly to local people, while more academic visitors often wished to appear incognito in order to facilitate their researches; others did so out of a love of ‘fancy dress’, while still others wished to signal a committed solidarity with the culture whose clothes they put on.
After visiting the exhibition and being terribly civilised with a pot of tea in the members room, I reflected upon those words and got to thinking on mission and the church. Seeking to be in culture but not of culture puts us in the same position as these early traders.
It causes me to ask ‘Do we ‘wear’ culture to feel safe, to be unnoticed as we carry out research, because we wish to appear trendy or because we feel a solidarity with the culture we seek to reach?
It’s an interesting and necessary question – and its a question where I hope my answer is the last one, but how can I be sure it is none of the other three, which seem pretty negative and/or lack integrity for me. To ‘wear the dress’ of culture to fel safe, to be incognito, or to look good do not sit easily with me as I seek to reach the people of this culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As I contemplate this ministry (10 weeks and counting to ‘O’ day) I was planning to be thinking a lot about how to be in but not of culture – I need to add to that the question of why I want to wear the culture at all.
I’ve seen this in a few places and on a couple of emails recently.
It brought a smile to my face.
The Shiny Headed Prophet 