Category Archives: gathering

a blessing to others

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The gathering got together on Sunday and we considered Heaven. 
We started by looking at our images of heaven, and what we thought heaven was like and what heaven was all about. Nick led us into thinking about if we could describe heaven as a colour, what colour would we choose and why. This was an interesting time as we could see a cross section of colours and reasons … it’s seems we all think very differently about heaven. 
Following this we looked at the video of Brian McLaren and his interpretation of the Lords Prayer and heaven. This is a challenging video … not so much for it’s content, but more for its consequences of taken it seriously. 
Certainly the concept of heaven coming to earth, and our role being involved in that, certainly sits a lot better with us that thoughts of being whisked off to another place. In the gospels we noticed that John the Baptist spoke of the kingdom of God coming; whereas Jesus says the Kingdom of God is here. That’s a pretty distinct difference. Right at the beginning of Mark’s gospel (v15) Jesus asks his listeners to believe the good news. I have always blindly read the ‘good news’ to mean the resurrection story … but we are 15 chapters away from that still in Mark.
I think the good news that Jesus talks of is that the Kingdom of Heaven is here, that we don’t have to wait to be whisked off into another place, and (this is I think really exciting) that we have a role to get involved with God in bringing the KIngdom of God (aka heaven) as a reality in the lives of those we meet. If you watch the video clip that is essentially what a part of the Lords Prayer is saying.
AS the gathering we struggled with what we do in light of this. There is mystery here, the Kingdom of God is here and we can see evidence but it is clearly not ere fully – there is more to come. The kingdom of God is here but there is more to come … and we have a role in working alongside God in bringing in more of the Kingdom.
Clearly we cannot get involved in every single issue or area of need that we see. But … we could get involved in those that we feel God prompt us to. I think how this outplays in our lives as individuals and as the gathering will be a reoccurring question. Yesterday we left with two statements which give us a challenge:
to be involved in the kingdom of God would mean that we will be a blessing to those we meet (Luke 4)
and
if we bring in the kingdom with God it would be like leaving a sweet taste in the mouths of those we meet (Psalm 34)
In our daily lives, how can we be such a blessing to others so that it is like leaving them with a sweet taste in their mouth – that’s not a bad aim for life!

ancient …. future

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On Sunday the gathering well … err gathered as we do in the Crypt of Rochester Cathedral. The crypt, or more accurately the Ithamar Chapel, was a particularly great setting for us as we were looking at and trying out the ancient practices of Lectio Divina and The Examen. (We used our own version of the Examen which you can find here).

I think this time together for us was good in that it helps us as we ‘try to travel our journey of faith together while we listen’ as our website claims. Both of these practices, but particularly, for me, the Examen are great ways to connect with the Divine on a regular basis. Personally I use the Examen at either the start or the end of the day and often find myself excited or surprised at how I have met with God throughout normal everyday activities.

These are great ancient practices that can help us on our journey’s into the future.

explore our ancient roots

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Last night the worship guild of the gathering ‘met’. This is an open group of people that get together to think about and plan the main monthly gathering. Last night’s topic was ‘ancient roots’. We speak of the gathering as ‘an ancient future church seeking to travel Christian faith together’ and so when we were planning topics earlier in the year someone thought we ought to explore those ‘ancient roots’ together.

Last night we chatted a lot about practices that have helped Christian communities through the ages and then thought about how we might experience then as the gathering. The result will be a slightly different gathering again on June 12th as we seek to ‘try out’ some ancient practices. Some of these will be experienced as a group, while others will be experienced privately. As always, we will be  giving everyone who wishes to the opportunity to contribute what they wish to contribute.

So … why not come along and try the examen, or spend some time using Lectio Divina, be surprised in what you hear God say through current chart music or even experience the joy of creating something new.

June 12th. 4.15pm in the crypt at Rochester Cathedral …. maybe see you there!

we gather together to …

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At Sunday’s gathering looking at creation, Howard wrote our opening liturgy which I really enjoyed. I think the way this sounds with the language of ‘openness’ gives some idea of the sort of community we wish to become: a community that travels together, not pretending to be sorted or having all the answers, and not pretending that things do not hurt, but a community that is open to God and each other.

The gathering ‘way’ is for half the group to read aloud one line and the other half to respond with the second line:

We gather together to explore
May we be open to see new perspectives
We gather together in awe of the world around us
May we be open to new insights
We gather together confused by things that happen
May we be open to hear new questions
We gather together to be encouraged
May we be open to each other
We gather together to journey
May we have the space to find our path



creation gathering

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the gathering err gathered again yesterday in the crypt of Rochester cathedral to look at the theme of creation.

This was a landmark event for the community as this was the first gathering we have had that I did not curate or ‘lead’ as one of the families within the community took on responsibility for this.

We took a Godly Play approach to the creation story and people wondered about certain aspects of the story. We then adapted our normal ‘open space’ approach and had a number of different stations to help people contemplate the theme of creation within our lives. Some of the stations looked at how we are created (Psalm 139) others took a St Julian of Norwich hazelnut meditative approach, others encouraged us to create (using Psalm 8) as well as say sorry for when we have abused creation.

As well as helping us to think more about the creative side of God I think we started to see that we as a community can be a creative bunch of people as well.

The next gathering will be on June 12th with the theme of Ancient Roots

the easter gathering

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Easter has been an amazing time … busy and amazing.
I have been involved in masses of conversations centred around the meaning of things like Maundy Thursday foot-washing, resurrection – conversations that have been made up of lots of questions and interest.

A highlight of Easter for myself was the gathering on Easter morning. At 5am I left the house to set up bbq’s on the beach at Upnor. At about 530 other people from the gathering started to arrive and before long there were 18 of us gathered to watch the sun rise and remember the joy of the resurrection of Jesus.

As daylight was breaking we had a time of confession by throwing pebbles into the water, symbolising Christ taking our sins away for ever. After listening to the easter accounts Emily led us in a time of discussion as all were given different parts in the tory and argued over where the body had gone. Some were cast as thieves, some as disciples, others as Jewish leaders and others as Romans. This worked really well and there was something very powerful about being led in this why by one of our amazing young people.

Following this we ate fish freshly cooked on the bbq (John 21) and drank bucks fizz before moving into sharing eucharist together.

As this was happening alongside the calm and quietness of the shore the sun rose and bathed us in light as may be seen in the photos here. As this was happening someone shared what they were noticing:

‘as the sun rises we can see that it shines on some places while other places are still in darkness … but as time goes on the sun shines on everyone and all feel it’s warmth’.

I thought that was a great image to carry through Easter Day.

Thank you everyone that was there … all of us together made this a very special day.

one small step

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On Sunday the gathering got together to look at the subject of ‘giving birth to a church’ using Acts 2 as our bible passage to look at. We asked the question of ourselves wondering how we can live out our faith in a way that is both attractive to others and meaningful for our lives as they are.

Sometimes it is just too easy to look at a church 2000 years ago and say, ‘ok … we need to do exactly what they did then.; Of course … we don’t! That was 2000 years ago and now is now – the faith is the same, maybe hassles are even the same, but the context is totally different. I guess it was this we were grappling with as a community of around 12 people.

As we reflected on where we have come from, it became clear that not all were aware of the gathering story, and that an issue we need to do something about. It seems we have traveled some way, but we are painfully aware that there is a long way to go. As someone pointed out – giving birth to something is only the beginning. The gathering has been born, but now we need to think about how we nurture and feed that so that we grow into a healthy vibrant Christian community.

I’m a fairly impatient person and I want to know where we are going – and I shared yesterday that for the very first time in anything I have done that I do not know where to go next or what to do. That frustrates me, but it does not worry me. I think that is a healthy position to be in. It means we are treading forward together quite carefully, trying to walk with God and allow him to take the initiative.

To be honest – I always knew being involved in starting something completely new was going to be challenge. the gathering is made up of an amazing group of people, and without them it would be a nightmare rather than just a massive challenge. Starting something new is, though, such hard work!

One thing we have agreed on, which I guess is pretty much the next step (and so, I guess, all we need to know at the moment) is that we need to spend more time together around a meal table simply getting to know each other better. I am quite excited by the thought of doing this – it feels the right thing to do and I think that is all we have to go on at the moment as to what we should be doing next. I think someones suggestion that this should happen in various places, both private and public, and at various times is a good suggestion.

As we meet to eat we will be able to share our stories, our dreams, our visions and our passions … and I wonder, just wonder, what may come from that.

(if you want to check out the gathering you can find us here or on facebook

words or bubbles or spirals?

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It has been a different couple of days for me.

Yesterday I returned to the head office of YFC in Halesowen. Walking through the door after 2 and a half years was kinda weird but it was great to see old faces and catch up with a few people. I was invited to join the board of YFC a little while back and yesterday at the AGM I was voted on. I am not sure what I can contribute – but I hope I can be helpful from a local centre point of view after being director at Gillingham YFC for around 10 years.

At the board meeting I was excited to hear about the changes in YFC, particularly the greater emphasis on local incarnational ministry along with a vision to work with others to see young people experiencing faith rather than just hearing about it. This is a challenge …. but I am convinced experience is really the only way!

Today I have been at the university all day as part of my ongoing curate training. Today we were looking at legal issues associated with weddings and funerals. This was led by the Archdeacon of Tonbride, Clive Mansell, in a good interactive day which I found quite useful (despite being sceptical before the start of the day!)

This evening we have just met as a small group (called the imagination guild) to plan our next gathering looking at the theme of ‘birthing a church’ and using Acts 2 as our bible text. This was a good creative time after we initially struggled with what we thought the passage and the theme was all about. I was quite excited with the outcome of the guild and we think we will be able to link this into our easter gathering which will happend at sunrise on Easter Morning.

So … and exciting couple of days … tomorrow is back to a normal kind of routine which I am really looking forward to. But … looking back it does make me smile … a lot of the time I feel that I seem to have to try to co-exist in different worlds, or, as someone pointed out today, different bubbles ….I wonder though whether I am slowly starting to see that everything I am involved in is connected in a spiral type way. By that I think i mean that the stuff I do does not immediately seem to fit together, but as I visit the same area over and over again from a slightly different perspective I start to see the connections all over the place.

where to now?

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The Tautoko weekend was amazing. Great people, great food, great location, great discussions, great wine, great whisky …. and amazing cocktails!

The conversations and networking are always the best part of any get together – and that is what this weekend was full of; no sessions with ‘experts’ or ‘specialists’ telling us what we should think. Instead, a series of conversations around the questions that we brought with us as a result of who we are, where we are and what we are doing.

There were so many great group and 1:1 conversations that I still need to think more about but I guess I was particularly caused to think in the first group conversation I took part in which was something like ‘where do we go next missionally and how do we encourage each other. Someone suggested that Liberation Theology has something to offer us here. Liberation Theology makes an assumption that there is something in need of liberating in every situation, and so asks the question of each context, ‘what needs liberating here?’

So … I have started to think, in the situations I am working in, what is there that needs liberating …. and what does it need liberating from? If I am called to serve the people and within the situations I come across then asking ‘what here needs liberating’ is probably a good question to be asking. It certainly helps me with that ‘what now/next?’ question that seems to keep propping up in a world where I increasingly see less of what is coming just around the corner. The upside of that is that there are lots of surprises!

There is more to come … but I am off for coffee to think a little more on this liberation stuff …

… but before I do I want to say THANKS to everyone that was there …. this is by far one of the best Christian gatherings I have ever been to … simply due to its relevance, its openness and everyones acceptance that we are all in this together and all learning together …. thanks for being such a great bunch of people!

temples alone but church together

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I really enjoyed the gathering today. Lots of people were involved in the creation of what happened and I really love this as it means that i am always made to think differently about something. Unusually for us we took just one verse, 1 Corinthians 6:19, to look at today and particularly asked ourselves what does the text really mean when he says our bodies are temples.

We chatted and shared a lot, but two ideas came out of our discussing that I have been thinking about for the rest of the day. The first came from the idea that tempes were built by people as places for their gods to show off. The building was dedicated to a particular god and everything about the building was an expression of worship to that God. This was a place to show off for the god.

If my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit how do I show that off?

During our time together we set the task of getting ourselves into a living sculture of a temple. This was a creative and funny time but also challenging. It became very clear very quickly that we needed each other to help illustrate everything we thought a temple should display … things such as love, worship of a king, a saviour, a creator, trinity …. and the list could go on.

We are temples alone, but we are the church together and need each other to be able to more fully express the love of God.

I think today marked a change in outlook for the gathering in how we work with each other and express together the love of Christ …. I look forward to where we may be going next!