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Forest Church Thought of the Day

Midwinter

We are choosing to work in relationship with the natural environment when we meet as Forest Church. We are taking a chilled out approach to this though. This means that our midwinter meeting is on a Sunday close to the solstice but not the day of it.

We will meet outside the Crichton chapel as usual. We have started exploring using words from liturgy which draws directly on the earliest church practice in these islands – often called “Celtic Christianity”.

Have you ever taken time to think about the way in which Christianity holds in tension the importance of history down to the details of where a baby is born and the cosmic awesomeness of a God who created and sustains all things in being?

This attention to detail and physical reality emerges time and time again as cultures go through a “Celtic Revival” that delights in locality, a sense of place, and meaningfulness connected with nature. (perhaps seen in books like Carmena Gadelica)

During the Golden age of Celtic Christianity brilliant minds pursued obscure truths and mysteries that academics of all era have struggled to grapple with though. Take for example the poetic work of “The Altus Prosator” where St Columba grapples with the concepts of Trinity and the cosmic order of things.

So on the 18th we will make an effort to become mindful of the moments we live in. We will also remember the connection we have with the creator of the cosmos who calls us out of our present to meet in eternity. Hopefully we will respond to the call of Wisdom as she stands at the highest point along the way where the paths meet.

Proverbs 8
Categories
Arts Christmas Light Creative Worship

Christmas Light

Follow this link to find out more!

As Christmas approaches Christians are thinking about the light of Jesus coming into the world. All over the world we will be spending time becoming aware of ways in which this light makes the world a better place to live in.

We invite you join us in this by contemplating the ways in which you bring light into your relationships with the world and those close to you.

We believe that everyone has the potential to be a unique nugget of joy! So your response could be as simple as writing your name. You could also think more deeply and write, draw, or make something to symbolise the ways you uniquely do this.

Take a photo of your response and send it to quartz@wordsmithcrafts.co.uk. We will print and add your contribution to a mirror as part of an installation in St Johns Dumfries. Added to a collection of over 100 mirrors it will catch the light and shimmer for everyone who drops in to experience it.

We will be posting photos and videos of the process online for those who are unable or, would prefer not to, visit the building.

Follow this link to find out more!

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Arts Christmas Light

Advent Installation

Do you remember the canopy of Angels from Christmas last year?

A Canopy of Angels

That was an example of a type of art known as an “Installation”. As a community art project it drew together ideas from a wide range of people, and worked in a relationship with the building it was hung in. The architecture and lighting of the place influences the shape and design as it unfolded, and currents of air made the angels dance in moments which can never be repeated.

If we were to try the same thing this year we would achieve a different effect, if we were to take the materials and install them somewhere else (as we did with the Angel Cloud) then whilst there would be some continuity of identity, it would still be a new work of art. The activity and process of developing the art with people is an important component of the whole “installation”. This is different from a painting or sculpture which can be moved from gallery to gallery, or placed in your home.

This Advent we are trying something very different to the Angel canopy. For a few months now people involved with Quartz have been thinking about light. Previously we have explored Forest Lanterns and the theme of Light in Darkness. Building on this experience, the installation is an opportunity to contemplate the story of the light of Jesus entering the world. This can be approached both as an exploration of Christian belief, and more generally as something which has contributed to the formation of Scottish society, and global culture.

Called “Christmas Light” we are using mirrors and drawings made by the congregation and wider community. We will assemble these to make one focal chandelier, which will then flow into mobiles hanging in the arches. The mirrors will catch the light inside the building and reflect it in ways that are shaped by the contributions of those who participate.

The full description and a printable activity sheet are found here. Please spread the word! Everyone is invited to participate, and to experience the installation over Christmas. We will start to install it on the 18th of December and will keep the webpage updated so all who contribute can see what is happening even if they are unable to visit the building. This is a work of art hosted in the St Johns building, but all are invited to participate. Simply think about ways in which you shimmer and shape light coming into the world and your relationships this Christmastime.

Christmas-Light-Activity-2022 Download a PDF with the guide to contributing

Categories
Arts Creative Worship Fresh Expressions Mission Thought of the Day

Illumination

It makes me smile when I think that one of the things which early Christians in these isles are remembered for is illuminated manuscripts. The grin gets broader when I compare the ready appreciation of this art with the slowness with which “youthwork for adults” has been accepted in many worshiping communities. The Manga gospels seem to be tolerated to try and ‘hook’ the youth and draw them in, but the acceptance of contemporary arts is slow.

Excerpt from “Cat’s Mirror” Simon Lidwell 2022

Even in those congregations where the arts are an integral part of Sunday worship this tends to gravitate towards a particular congregation and their niche culture. Something has driven a wedge between the Church and the wider community and this has been driven deeper during my lifetime. To some I suspect this feels like the country (or union of countries!) is slipping away from church control into paganism. To many in my generation however we watch as despite our best efforts the institution seems slow to adapt and to cling to the mindset that underlies colonialism as well as economics that de-humanise people and will consume our environment.

Why is this relevant to the arts? Those who positively identify with the term pagan are often the leaders in environmental action. Back in the 80’s and 90’s they were building car henges. Drawing on the deep prehistoric past to express ethical idignation through contemporary art with the prophetic style of an old testament prophet. Not everyone is called to participate in such works of prophetic art, but has innovation been relegated to youthwork with the false expectation that people will grow out of it when they become adults?

Breith Oisein

Whilst a wild meadow of flourishing spirituality is blooming in many small gestures of artistic expression outside church meetings, inside we have a culture struggling to come to terms with digital projector screens let alone the theological implications of shifting from a clockwork understanding of spacetime to one which involves quantum uncertainty and the ‘spooky effect’.

So, I grin when someone thinks that a manga gospel is a new idea. They were too little, too late, and inexpertly executed, but a valuable attempt. After all, the shape that the light of the gospel took for centuries before printing presses was in the glorious colours of illuminated manuscripts. Experimenting with the best technology available, to variable levels of achievement. The church can provide #SensingSpirituality and #sensingmeaningfulness but it will need to escape the vice of the recent past to inherit awareness of the dynamic eternal truth. Like all living organisms it will need to seek out and undergo change in order to preserve its substance.

If we can do this in our Christian communities, and can embrace creative acts like the fusion of illumination from the late iron age combined with manga, then we make the way smooth and open new paths for exploration. Not using art functionally as a hook to lure the unwashed in, but as a celebration of the Way flourishing in fields we did not sow. Then perhaps the wedge will disappear, although what our gatherings will look like is unknown. In the C8th monasteries what did they imagine worship would look like now?

More of this artists work can be seen on the Scribal Styles website

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Forest Church

November Forest Church

20/22/22 2pm Outside the Crichton chapel

Peace

We meet in Jesus name. Whether you consider yourself a close friend or are just curious, we meet in Christs peace. Peace be with you.

Invocation

Creator of the seasons, as the cold and dark winter begin to surround us, we ask that you set in us the firmness of the roots of the trees. As they draw on the goodness of the earth to sustain them, may we draw on your goodness – the ground of being. As the trees let their leaves fall, and sleep deeply and soundly trusting that the sustenance they have within them will see them through to spring, may we trust that the sustenance that you place in us is sufficient for us.

With the firmness of the trees and the trust of the creatures, we look to you, Creator of life, to sustain and keep us.

Prayer

O star-like sun, O guiding light, O home of the planets,

O fiery-maned and marvellous one, O fertile, undulating, fiery sea,

Forgive

O fiery glow, O fiery flame of Judgement,

Forgive

O holy storyteller, holy scholar, O full of holy grace, of holy strength,

O overflowing, loving silent, one, O generous and thunderous giver of gifts,

Forgive

O rock-like warrior of a hundred hosts,

O fair-crowned one, O victorious, skilled in battle,

Forgive

attributed to St. Ciaran

Reading

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and night wraps itself around me,”[a]
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139: 7- 12

Centring

Find a tree. Root yourself.

Allow yourself to become aware of everything which is going on around you, the wind, the sounds, the smells.

Draw back into yourself, like a tree shedding it’s leaves in preparation for Winter.

Rest

Receive sustenance from God, Become aware of the sustenance God has placed within you, draw sustenance through your feet and into your core.

When you are ready hold the memory and begin to walk.

Intercession

God of stillness, ruler over darkness, we pray for those places within our world which are in darkness in some way, whether through human action or natural means.

Lord have mercy

God of stillness, ruler over darkness, we pray for those places within our local community which are in darkness in some way, whether through the actions of local people or wider government decisions.

Christ have mercy

God of stillness, ruler over darkness, we pray for those places within our Church which are in darkness in some way, whether through selfish heard heartedness or the political decisions of hierarchy.

Lord have mercy

Reading

7 And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.

8 On that day living water shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of it to the eastern sea and half of it to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

9 And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

Zechariah 14:7-9

Contemplation

(Please bring a lantern with you if you have one. We will bring some spares and the materials for making more. The extent to which we take time and care to shape our lanterns will be determined by the weather! We may seek warmth and refreshments to carry out this activity.)

Light your lantern

Consider the way in which the lantern is a boundary between the light and the dark. It shapes the way the light is seen. It keeps the flame lit and shielded from the wind. The lantern is scarred and pierced, but each wound lets more light out. The shapes add beauty and creativity to the world around the lantern.

In what ways do you hold onto and protect the light of the gospel within you. In what ways do you contribute light to the world around you, and with style…

Grace

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Now and evermore,

Amen.

Categories
Arts Forest Church

Upcycling Lanterns

In the beginning the Word was with God and the Word ... the introduction to the gospel of John

What do you do when you are invited to talk a bit about Forest Church and lead a fellowship meeting when it is held at night and in the dark part of the year?

The evening at Barcaple started with an introduction to Quartz, and then reading Johns introduction to his Gospel. Light, and light coming into the world seemed appropriate as a theme. The first recorded bishop to base himself in Galloway was described as bringing light to the shores. His mission base was called the sparkling white house, which becomes “Whithorn” from the old English Language. The shape that he gave to the light can still be seen over a thousand years later.

In the Middle Ages the city was a symbol of all that was best, and a city of light on a hill was often used as an image of heaven. This shaped society in ways which can still be seen in church buildings. The age which followed is often described as the enlightenment. Great wonders have certainly been worked in the last 500 years. During that time the culture of Europe has been exported globally and in Scotland we can enjoy the privileges of our ancestors work. Central heating, electric lighting, chocolate and coffee to mention a few!

Many of them saw themselves as taking light around the world, but as reports come in about the impact of global warming we have to question the unintended consequences of the rapid change following the agricultural, industrial and political revolutions of recent centuries. Our recent history, in which the church has played a pivotal leadership role, is characterised by a confidence in progress and the treating of the natural environment as a resource to be mined. Environmentalists who warned about the impact of this used to be dismissed as mad men living in the wilderness eating strange food and not washing enough. On an everyday level, many living in the great cities feel alienated from basic aspects of human life such as growing food and animal husbandry. organisations like A Rocha have been leading the way in demonstrating a Christian response internationally.

Healing this rift, and providing hands on opportunities for people to take part in the physical tinkering with basic things is an important part of Wordsmith Crafts activity, and Quartz explores #SensingSpirituality within this. The restoring the relationship between worship and the environment which sustains us is an important theme in Forest Church. This meets the perception of an increasing need felt by people to connect with nature in a spiritual way.

We all shape the light, but just as a hole gets bigger the more you take away, so too the way of Jesus is that if we lose ourselves in the light, we find life. By leaving the building and going outside for forest church we deny ourselves the comfort of hymn books and shelter! However, we also create space to discover God at work in the world.

To explore and express this on a personal level we then provided a craft activity. Participants were encouraged to think about the shape they would make to let the light out. Two options were presented.

One being to think of a message they wished to symbolise, and then create a design and apply it to the can so that the light would illuminate it.

The second option was to contemplate light and darkness, and the tin which is the boundary in between. By working with the material and moving from the well lit room into the darkness participants were encouraged to explore their relationship to the light and the process of removing material in order to create something.

Participants worked in groups, because it is within the whole community that we find our full rainbow diversity of individuality!

We will continue to explore the theme of light and dark as we move towards Christmas.

Categories
Fresh Expressions Mission Thought of the Day

Creative Placemaking

Those interested in pioneer ministry will hopefully be recognise many common ways of working in this article (and perhaps even identify glimmers of micro-gospels). The article is about creative placemaking, and a phrase which stood out to me is:

“The common thread amongst various definitions, however, is that it is a process that helps to generate places where people want to be.”

You can read the article here:

Exploring the Boundary…

And it is generously seasoned with links to more examples.

For the established Church in particular, some questions to reflect on could include…

Can we transform the spaces we have into places where people want to be?

If we go out, is it to discover God “in face of friend and stranger” or to convert?

What echoes of the creative placemaking carried out by saints like Ninian, Columba, Adomnan can still be felt in Scotland?

Are some called to gather people round God’s table, and others to feast on hillsides and drink unexpected wine at weddings?

Suggestions in the comments please!

Explore the context this article comes from more fully

Categories
Arts Creative Worship Forest Church Interweave

Forest Lanterns

On Sunday the 30th of October 2022 at 6pm we will be gathering in St John’s church building.

The clocks will be changing to mark the end of British Summer time. The Nights are getting longer and darker, and the trees are drawing into themselves, letting go of their fruit and leaves. Seeds are buried and the end becomes the beginning of something new.

We have prepared a large lantern with light shining through fallen leaves and symbols of harvest. This reminds us that the cosmos declares the glory of God. On the evening participants will be invited to take a word or phrase and ‘plant’ it in their own wee lantern as a prayer.

While making these lanterns we will discuss our memories of #SensingSpirituality over the last year. Especially moments experienced during Quartz Forest Church activities. There will be some projected images as reminders!

While the lanterns are drying, ready to take away, we will rake these thoughts and chats together.

To finish, a wee word of warning, this is not an event to wear your Sunday best to. It will involve leaves, glue, and pens.

Categories
creation Thought of the Day

Light

Here is a video made by Simon as part of his chaplaincy work with Dumfries High School.

It was used during mental health week, with an introduction linking the advice given by Jesus to reflect on what is important, and the way in which our social media feed can drag our attention down unhealthy paths.

Enjoy the last wee bit of harvest!

Categories
Arts prayers

Praying for the World

Here is a video clip produced as a collaboration between Alison and Kate. for the intercessions at an evening service in St John’s Dumfries we were encouraged to write prayers on long bandages.

Then we wrapped them round a globe as an act of prayer.

Kate videoed the finished glob and sung a song by Bifrost arts to go with it (https://bifrostartsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/our-song-in-the-night)