mind body spirit and sweeps

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The Sweeps Festival starts tomorrow in Rochester and I’ll be spending most of my weekend involved there (apart from a short break to watch Gillingham beat Southampton!) The Sweeps program can be downloaded here. If you look on page 6 of the guide it outlines what we are doing – although somehow ‘Mind Body and Spirit’ has come out in the program as ‘Sound Body and Mind’.

the program outlines that Sound, Body and Mind is a  a spiritual experience with free hand and foot massages, the chance to make prayer beads, experience the Jesus deck of cards and have the opportunity to receive a healing prayer.

We will be working from 2 gazebos placed in St Mary’s Meadow (which is the bit of grass on the High Street side of the cathedral). If the weather is really really bad as forecast for Sunday then we will be found inside the cathedral. If you are in the area why not pop along.

This year we are seeking to engage with and serve people in the same way that I do when involved with the Dekhomai team at MBS events. The stall for the next 3 days is making use of the Dekhomai name. We shall also be using the Dekhomai Prayer beads postcard along with a St. Florian prayer postcard I have designed specifically for Sweeps. St Florian is the Patron Saint ofr sweeps and firefighters. On the reverse of the postcard is the traditional firefighter prayer alongside a prayer to St Florian for those who feel they cannot or are uncomfortable praying direct to God or Jesus. This prayer takes the tradition of praying to saints and asking them to ask God on our behalf.

Part of me is challenged by what Ihave designedas personally I have never prayed to a saint as I believe everyone can approach God through prayer. I have come across many people, however, who ask me to pray for them because they feel unable to pray for themselves. I hope these postacrds will help people in their own homes or workplaces to be able to approach their Creator God through Saint Florian.

In addition to the above we will be offering the making of prayer beads, prayer and anointing for healing, foot and hand massage, prayer blessings,  Jesus Deck applications, and Ignation meditation opportunities. During or after these activities we will offer to pray with people.

Dekhomai, the welcoming place, is all about getting alongside people, being with people and allowing them time to make themselves aware of the spiritual presence of God around them.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what God does when we give the room for God to do what God can do. Please pray for the team over the 3 days of the festival.

gordon’s human!

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Nick Page has an interesting and thought out blog on the ‘bigot’ incident here.
Not going to say too much more – yes it was wrong, but he apologised.
How many of us have said things in the heat of the moment which we have later regretted?

nothing to be afraid of

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It’s been an interesting few days … and I seem to be making endless excuses for not blogging as regularly as I used to or would like to. I guess part of this is that mission, as I see it, that is: getting alongside people and listening and attempting to be an expression of God’s love in a variety of circumstances sounds grand …. but actually it is just me being me and listening, and sometimes responding, to people in a way that it is helpful to them.

In my reflections today I have been thinking more on inculturation. I believe if my faith is to be meaningful today then it has to relate in a significant and authentic way with my culture. The new developing community of people who call ourselves the gathering speak of our faith informing our experience of the world and our experience of the world informing our faith. This is both serious and important to us. A faith that cannot relate to my world is irrelevant.

Different cultures express themselves and faith differently. God, to be God, must be God of all cultures. If that is true, and I believe it is, then it is clear that faith and the living out of that faith will feel and look very different in different cultures. I think it then follows that lifestyles will be different depending upon how those different cultures interpret and are able to express their faith.

A long while ago I remember coming across the Christ we Share pack. The pack illustrates how Christ has been depicted in art in different cultures. Some of the pictures are challenging to our stereotypes of what Christ must have been like. These pictures are, however, an illustration showing how different cultures understand and relate to the Christ figure. Christ, like faith, needs to be in the prevalent culture to be both noticed and relevant.

If people are going to travel their journey of faith with integrity, then there is a requirement for that journey to be understandable within that culture. It makes sense that the same faith can look very different dependent upon the culture that faith expression is sitting within. In the past such stuff have caused concern – but if God is God of all (and if God isn’t then God can’t be God!) then this diversity should be welcomed and embraced.

As we seek to travel together in the gathering we long to travel in a way that embraces, welcomes and cherishes the culture(s) around us. There are loads of groups/churches/organisations/collectives that exist together because they agree about everything. I believe the love of God within creation really flourishes in groups of people that choose to travel together despite not agreeing on everything because they acknowledge that we all bring something unique and valid. I hope that is what the gathering becomes.

one of my pics in the Seattle Guide!

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I took what I think are some really photos while I was in Seattle so when the Seattle Neighbourhood Guide contacted me to ask permission to use a photo I wondered which one. I was quite surprised when it was this one, the side of the Fremont Abbey … great building but not a particularly great shot – but I guess it was what they were looking for! If you want to find it in the online guide itself you need to go through the Fremont photos.

sunshine

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my entry for this weeks Photo Friday
I like the way the sun gives the impression that it is burning a hole through the photograph.

world malaria day

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Today is World malaria Day.
One of the most heart wrenching moments I have experienced recently was the Sport Relief report on 3000 children dying unnecessarily from malaria each day due to not having a simple thing like mosquito net. Such a thing costs a mere £5. £5 to save one life …. such a little that can make a massive and real difference.

There are suggestions for action here or you can still go to Sport Relief or Oxfam and make a donation for the purchase of mosquito nets.

dont judge me!

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It always amazes me how Jon of ASBO Jesus grabs many of the sentiments that annoy me about Christianity. Today is one of those days when I have been screaming internally … ‘when are Chriatians going to realise it’s all about grace not rules!!!’
Today’s cartoon needs no more words.

?what we are about?

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I am very conscious that my blogging has not been as regular over the last few months. I am still reflecting daily as my normal practice but the results of those reflections have not really been bloggable. Is that even a word?

There has been a lot of head stuff going on. The gathering has moved to the crypt and we need to decide how we let people know where we are and, more importantly, what we are about. It seems good to repeat myself and so below you can read the underlying ethos of the gathering – so if you know this already no need for you to go any further.

Below is what we, as the gathering, are about. This is what we are trying to achieve. We are not there, we aspire to be there and maybe one day we will come close. We are a group of people on a journey and invite others to join us on this exciting journey called faith. We are a young emerging community that continues to evolve and learn from each other.

we are people that long, maybe even too scared to dream, of church being a place which really connects with people outside, but also with us. 
We dream of a church where differences are celebrated and add to the communities flavour.
 
We are not worried so much about what people believe, but more concerned about how we believe: how we live out faith, how we are Christ-like.
 
We don’t care so much about worship style, but interested in something that’s authentic and enables all of us to connect with God where we are both emotionally and spiritually.
 
We really do believe and accept that faith is a journey, and that we can all exist at different points on the road, or even off it, with no fear of condemnation.
 
We are a growing community that does not judge a person by how they look, how they sound or by what they believe.
 
We want to see a community that loves and has people at its heart rather than being focused on a program that must be delivered.
 
We believe a community should be one that get together in a variety of ways regularly throughout the week to enjoy relationship with each other and with God, and is not restricted to any one day or meeting.
 
We are willing to pay the cost of time that comes with developing relationships.
 
We want to see ‘the gathering’ as a place where people belong because they are connected and on the journey, not a place where they can only belong if they turn up at a particular time, day and place.
 
We want to see a community that really believes in mission that makes a difference, that not only welcomes in strangers, but expects and allows the community to change due to what that new person brings with them.
 
We believe church is about participation and engagement of the majority, rather than being consumerist and led by a few specialists.
 
We are tired of being told the same stuff and want to discover together how to live Christian spirituality meaningfully in our world!
 
We long for their experience of church to inform their experience of the world and vice versa.

This journey will be tough.
Not many will want to share it.
But a few will.

 If that grabs you then get in touch.

mysteries of God’s moving

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Yesterday I spoke of the first gathering in the crypt which was how my Sunday ended. Like a number of my Sunday’s however, last Sunday was a day when I experienced the two worlds I live in – of established church and fresh expression of church. Sometimes I wonder if I am developing two personalities – particularly on those days when I am in inherited/established church for part of the day and then creating something new in the other part of the day. It just feels weird.

On Sunday morning it was a privilege to be interviewed and speak at St Peter and St Paul in Aylesford.
I have known Chris and Kathy for many years from working with them in Gillingham and so when they invited me to speak I jumped at the chance. Chris interviewed me and I spoke about what I do throughout the day and why I do it.

Afterwards I did a little preach and used Genesis 26:12-19 and Mark 4:30-34 as my texts. It was the Genesis text that I thought would take people by surprise. In fact it took me by surprise and I am amazed at how God seems to work.

In my preparation I felt God saying/it right to (delete whichever so it enables you to feel comfortable) to use the example of Issac re-digging the wells of his father when he has to move into ‘new’ territory as an illustration for fresh expressions of church. I used this as an illustration for the ethos I use in my role as creating a new way of being church. I find it interesting that Issac can choose to go anywhere and yet decided to return to the wells of his father.

As I seek to develop a new way of being church I essentially have the freedom, like Issac, to go anywhere but, like him, feel it is right to re-dig the old wells … but instead of searching for water I am searching for the fresh traditions and ideas of our faith that can be related with integrity today. I guess I am saying, as well, that I am looking to dig up the ‘stuff’ that has been placed on top of the wells of our faith – stuff like prejudice, outdated cultural practices, certain biases and so on. I think rather than being wacky or new we need to rediscover some stuff and then be creative with how we can use that stuff in a meaningful way. (Stuff is my new theological term!)

So … why was I surprised?
After the service 3 ladies came up to me all excited. These 3 ladies pray together each week and for the last couple of weeks they have been praying about ‘wells’ without knowing too much about what it meant but feeling it was important for them to keep praying about. Then … 2 weeks later I come along and speak about wells in their church.

Coincidence … or God-incidence?
It was pretty exciting to share in their excitement and joy.
God may well be moving in mysterious ways!

new places

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So … last night we made history! The gathering got together for the first time in the crypt of Rochester cathedral. There was not as many of us as I would have hoped, but we were able to worship and think with God on the theme of ‘new places’.

One of the families brought us a presentation, put together mainly by Emily, and athought based on new places which got us thinking and mulling over what it is about places that draws or repels us. Howard used the example of Abraham going to new places and we were massively struck by the way that in every new place Abraham went he ‘built an altar’. I had never really noticed this until Howard read from the bible – ‘and he buily an altar’ became a very clear theme which jumped from the text. It was quite poignant I think listening to that as we sat by the stone altar in the Ithamar Chapel. We then went on to chat about why Abraham made a point of building altars before moving into open space (an adapted COTA idea) to give us time to engage with what we had heard.

For us ‘open space’ was time to sit quietly alone, to gaze at an icon and listen to God, or to write prayers to burn with incense. This was a particularly encouraging time as I was able to notice different ages engaging together with ancient spiritual practices. Observing a 5 year old sitting in front of an icon and asking questions and processing what she sees was auite a powerful thing to behold.

After praying our worship continued in sharing cakes and drinks.

I think this was a very encouraging start. Again, our size shouts to us of our vulnerability. Again, I am conscious of how fragile a community we are. Again, however, I feel convinced that God is leading us in some way that we are all unsure of – and again that links with Abraham who had to go, did go, but was never sure of where it was he was supposed to be going to.