Author: Simon Lidwell

Lent2023

St Ninians Pilgrimage

An artists reconstruction of medieval Whithorn — Mediaeval Whithorn

A journey of anticipation between Good Friday and Easter Sunday

This year we took advantage of the space between Good Friday and Easter Sunday to go on a journey of discovery. We met up in the morning at St Johns in Dumfries and then travelled west, collecting together as a group on the way.

Coffee at the Whithorn trust

We were welcomed at the Whithorn Trust for a break and a much appreciated coffee! It was here that we were introduced to the historical setting for the story of St Ninian. We also so something of the current activities of the trust. As well as welcoming tourists and pilgrims on the St Ninians way, they are also running projects to develop skills in local young people to keep the crafts alive that are required to maintaing the traditional buildings in the area and rebuild replicas of historical buildings.

The woodland path to the beach — few bluebells today!

Their centre also hold an exhibition of artefacts from the archaeological dig in the 1980’s to recent research like the 3D reconstruction of the face of a bishop from his physical remains cared for in the Abbey. Whithorn might look like a quiet town today, but the streets have been shaped by a history of being the principle “go to location” for kings on pilgrimage.

A moss covered stone bridge over a small burn. — well-made remains from an earlier age

After our break, we took a short drive to the St Ninians cave car park. We left modern transport behind and continued on foot down to the coast. The path leads through a forest, sometimes filled with bluebells although we were there too early for a full carpet. The transition through the wood gives time to slow down, to notice the details of growing things, and to prepare. Moving through space to change ones mindset. Opening ones mind to experience sensations both physical and spiritual that we can become less aware of in the grind of daily life.

There is short rise just before the path reaches the beach, and the beach itself is made from stones banked up by the waves. This means that when you walk the final few steps on the path the ground lifts you up as you reach the beach and then the horizon opens up to give you a view of where the Solway meets the Irish sea.

walking towards the cave

The beach is very different environment to the forest. Stone water and sky dominate your experience. There are patterns in the pebbles. If you look out to sea sometimes Mannanan lifts his cloak and reveals the Isle of Man. I often imagine the many ways in which the sea connects us globally. Something which looks like a barrier can become the means to travel and for messages to spread. There is a changed quality in ambient light too. Just standing and experiencing the refreshment of the place without the need to exercise intellect is refreshing for the soul.

We then approached the cave. There are many caves associated with saints in Scotland and the tradition of finding remote places to sit and contemplate is not unique to Christianity. This cave has been associated with the Story of Ninian for thousands of years. The ornate carved crosses that it once held have been moved to care for them in the town of Whithorn. The surface of the cave and cliff face is covered with crosses and names carved by visitors though. What is it about being in the same physical place as a legend that is so special?

We stopped there for lunch. Some took time to wander and think while others enjoyed chatting, or looking at the view.

After a while I gave people the opportunity to cast a pilgrim badge as a record of their journey. The badge is based on one found near Holywood in Dumfries. At one time there was an industry producing badge like these. I compare them to the way in which people will buy a frame from their favourite film, frame it, and hang it on their wall. We are physical creatures and there is a connection between the things we can touch and see and those we cannot. For some this may simply be a reminder of a memory, for others there is a deeper significance.

It has been said that “I hear I forget, I see I remember, I do I understand” Pouring hot metal certainly focuses the mind on the moment and the task in hand!

And then it was time to return. Walking back through the woodland and letting the experience settle. For some this was not the first time they had visited the cave, and for many it wont be the last. Each journey is different though and perhaps some of those who travelled will post about their experiences in the comments!

Tags #SensingSpirituality

Arts Lent2023 Transformation 2023

Snapshots

On the move.

In the yellow door gallery

Luxury transport

Inside out

Arts Lent2023 Transformation 2023

Chrysalis

Here is a wee preview of the next stage in the “Transformation” project.

Arts

Encouragement and Inspiration

Post author By Simon Lidwell
Post date 24/02/2023
No Comments on Encouragement and Inspiration

I was sent this bible reference to encourage me.

The reasoning being, if God inspired these artists, then we should have confidence that our art can also be evidence of God working through us. Life is about more than deep thoughts, polished sermons, or even charitable giving. The text by a monk calling himself Theophilus that is used as a picture on this post expands on that theme.

Exodus 35:30ish

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills — to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”
Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.”
Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

Forest Church

FC feb 23

This Sunday we were blown further afield than usual by the wind. We revisited the wood on the crag behind the Crichton. The wind had a slight chill to it, laden with water, but the sun shone on us giving moments of warmth.

We look at the Horizon but it isn’t there, not really, it is just the furthest we can see. We know that there is something beyond it, and sometimes this mixture of knowing and not knowing is what draws us on beyond our present experience.

As usual we enjoyed a mixture of silent appreciation, discussion, and shared thoughts.

Arts Creative Worship

“Christmas Light” review

During Advent in 2022 Quartz used visual arts to give people the opportunity to contemplate how they shape light entering the world. We made several mobiles, strings of mirrors, that were hung in the building. They were beautiful to look at, and many people commented that the installation helped them contemplate.

The process of making the installation was as important as the finished work of art. So please enjoy the images, and take some time to explore the process as well.

This video has a quick run through of a process which took several months.

We invited Photographer Stephen Ross to try and capture some of the atmosphere created by the installation. An evening with some powerful torches and a wee bit of smoke, and these are the final images.

Mirror mobile seen from the choir — Nuggets of Joy

Travel through time on the Blog

The process was recorded on the Quartz blog. A main page for the project could be accessed through the “Activities” menu. The blog posts tagged “Christmas Light” built on this, step by step. They start with the first post introducing the ides for an advent installation from here You can follow the development of the thoughts and theology as the project developed.

Advent Installation

Do you remember the canopy of Angels from Christmas last year? 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…
Find out more…

And the main page which hosted the project while is ran as a current activity.

Christmas Light
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…
Find out more…

And the main page which hosted the project while is ran as a current activity.

Christmas Light
Nuggets of Christmas Light

As part of the Christmas installation this year we have been asking people to recognise the ways in which they bring light into the world, and their relationships. They have been writing words and drawing symbols as described elsewhere on this site. Here are some of the symbols of the “Nuggets of Joy” which have…
Find out more…

And the main page which hosted the project while is ran as a current activity.

Christmas Light

Arts Thought of the Day

Peace

Post author By Simon Lidwell
Post date 10/02/2023
No Comments on Peace

This picture is one of my early ones. It has been useful a couple of times recently.

This morning I was thinking about peace as I stood in to help out at a commemoration of remembering the day that Bruce killed Comyn in Greyfriars, Dumfries. The opportunity to help arose as a result of connections I made during the “Hidden Histories” project. It is one strand of a complex mesh of connections in developing local community work. Essential work but difficult to classify!

My role was portreying a member of the Grayfriars monastery community. As part of a team from the Bruce Trust to help the general public and a primary school class imagine the significance of the events and access their heritage.

We were hosted in a Church that is still known locally as Grayfriars although there is only a vague connection through the communion of saints living and departed. This helped link the history, with the spirituality, and the whole human experience of time though.

Characters included, King Robert, his sister Lady Christina, Lady Mary (who was imprisoned in a cage for years) and Tom the pilgrim to show that history is not just about kings and warfare.

Hopefully by retelling the stories surrounding the violence of 1306 in their home town, the pupils will be better able to understand peace and practice #SensingMeaningfulness

Creative Worship Theology Thought of the Day

Spirit of Truth

I draw during the 11 O’clock service. The pencil and paper help me to explore the familiar surroundings and repeated words.

Perhaps this is similar to taking notes in a lecture theatre, even if the text is available online. Writing helps focus the mind and activate more of the brain to aid retention. For me the drawing is not so that I remember though, it helps me contemplate rather than rationalise. Sometimes I’ll draw a design inspired by the feeling of the moment or the archetecture of worship. At others a phrase from a reading will start me exploring the nature of my experience of the Divinity. It is usually a combination of many things!

This Sunday my drawing was most influenced by the reading from 1 Corinthians ch2 (although I later looked up John ch14 when I started putting my thoughts into words).

The development of a drawing

The flow of the service seemed to follow the theme of questioning the relationship between ritual acts and righteous living. Even kindness and public displays of charity can conceal support for systematic injustice. Whilst all the right words might be said, the balance of power remains with the privileged. An empty ritual of giving reinforces dependency rather than releasing potential, whether this is through fulfilling basic needs or placing abundance at the service of those who need it – both to restore healthy relationships.

Beneath this flow, my mind was occupied with thinking about the passage from Corinthians and the relationship between the presence of Jesus and that of the Holy Spirit. As Christians we look to Jesus for our example. Did Jesus ascend so that we would need to sense more broadly though? Rather than imitating one human being, we now have to be aware of the Spirit in being human. As pervasive as salt, yeast, light and obvious in her absence in tasteless behaviour, the weight of grinding poverty, and piety which blinds us from the minute to minute reality of what needs to be done.

So my drawing starts with a cross. Radiating from the cross are waves of water, transforming into tongues of fire. Perhaps viewers loose sight of the cross as they gaze on the drawing. For me though, I see the fire of the advocate blazing with anger fueled with an experience of ethical indignation that cannot be satisfied within the status quo. I see the healing waters of the comforter refreshing and bringing peace to those who are weary. The art style comes from stone and the metals of the earth, and perhaps by exposing it to the “open air” in this blog post others will find meanings I haven’t seen yet.

And that perspective shift is why the cross gets smaller and smaller as the drawing develops. The cross in it is not something to look at. It is a place to stand and look out from. The invitation is there to centre yourself in Jesus.

Let the fire of the Holy Spirit bathe you and transform darkness into light.

Let the water of the Holy Spirit bathe you and heal your wounds.

And flow through the food you eat, the drink you drink, and the relationships you live your life in.

Ready to be filled with colour?

Tags #SensingSpirituality #Prayer

#SensingSpirituality Arts Creative Worship Fresh Expressions Interweave

Interweave – Internet

How the digital world can help us worship

at 6pm on Sunday the 29th of January we will be gathering in St Johns to use digital technology to worship together, and also explore ways in which access to the digital world can help us live out the Missio Dei, the mission of God.

In the beginning…

One of the first ways I experimented with using the internet as a place to develop ways of being digital church, about sixteen years ago, can be found here https://www.wordsmithcrafts.co.uk/cyberculdee/cyberpilgrim1.html

I was living in a farmhouse without a car and several hours walk outside town, but with broadband I could keep in touch with what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. I just had to switch on my PC and I opened a door to a space where I could learn, pray, and be challenged and inspired. Here is one of the videos from that first pilgrimage into the online world.

The online world has developed considerably since then, and people who were born on the day I made that webpage are now sixteen and adults in Scots law. They have grown up in a world where having an online digital presence is more normal than reading newspapers and where they often communicate with their peers through digital media more frequently than in person.

Can anything good come from the internet?

As people realised that Covid was not something that would be over by Christmas they changed from hunkering down to shelter in a blizzard and started to adapt to prolonged lockdown. For many this opened their eyes to ways in which digital technology could provide ways to overcome the isolation of lockdown, and perhaps grudgingly at first they learned.

It will take a while to understand the impact of those years. This article describes a sequence of adapting to enable people who were isolated by lockdown, extending practices to involve them, and starts to ask questions about how the new normal might disrupt previous assumptions. This one explores similar issues at greater depth and lists some of the challenges to traditional church structures as a result of what was deemed possible and beneficial.

For those comfortable with digital resident behaviour when worshiping lockdown might have been a very positive experience. Prevented from the ability to attend a place they were geographically committed to, they found online spaces to gather and participate with others as Church.

Online spaces like this have existed for a long time, but congregations were swift to adopt video conferencing technology to provide a range of solutions. They used a mixture of interactive gatherings, live transmissions, and pre-recorded liturgies presented at a set time for people to participate in together from their own homes.

St Johns primarily used a combination of webpage and zoom coffee to adapt the 11 O’clock service. As Quartz we used a mixture of online and blended activities, and developed our use of technology to the form you are experiencing today.

A quick taster of what to expect…

Musical worship

We will be using Spotify to sing together. The karaoke setting provides lyrics and a playlist can be pre-selected or made collaborative from the app on peoples smart phones. This is a more social way to use the app than just using it to create a soundscape like the Candlemass one below.

Meditative prayer

Several members of the Quartz team use the “Pray as you Go” app. This is a chance to talk about that.

Intercession

The Prayer Wall

Reading

The SEC gospel reading for the day can be found on the SEC digital calendar which can be viewed on a browser, or downloaded to the calendar app you use on your phone.

Or you could read it in many different translations at Bible Gateway Mark 1:21-28

and if you want to read, and be guided in contemplating the passage, here is something provided by the Jesuits in Ireland

https://www.sacredspace.ie/content/mark-121-28

What do you recommend?

Please bring your ideas, and any examples of ways in which access to the internet has helped you.

Digital Divide

We recognise, and understand, that if you have been working all week in front of a screen you might not want to spend your Sunday evening doing the same! The evening is a chance to meet in person, and converse.

A digital divide exists as well. In Scotland we have a high level of access to digital technology, but lockdown showed that there are rural families who rely on a satellite, and families where all the children needed to share the same device to access school. Please take a moment to look at these projects which work to improve access to appropriate technologies.

Home

This links to their webpage

Digital Participation in Scotland

https://digitalparticipation.scot/

For further research and thought about this topic

Access to theology and worldwide academic research

To what extent can digital Church be Gods instrument for mission, or will those who engage with the divine online remain a marginalised community? This paper discusses online pilgrimage and some of the issues.

https://www.academia.edu/43282609/Pilgrimage_Cyberpilgrimage_and_Missio_Dei_Disruptive_Practices_and_Theology_Insights_for_Digital_Church

An introduction to another academic paper. I’ve not requested the paper yet, but it sounds interesting!

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264507436_Cyberpilgrimage_The_Virtual_Reality_of_Online_Pilgrimage_Experience

Forest Church

…with prayer

The view from the Crichton QFC on January the 15th, 2023

It had been a drich few days before we met. Record flooding levels in Dumfries saw businesses washed out, some perhaps beyond their ability to recover. I wasn’t sure if some of our proposed activities (follow the link to see the plan) would work out.

However, we were greeted by a clear sky. It is the winter so the weather was brisk, but when you stand in the sun you are warm. Once we had gathered, we moved to a place where we could look through the trees and over the Solway.

One of the things which stood out was the Alder tree. More about Alder here. We moved between activity together as a group and individual exploration. Each of us found space to pray and time to share what we discovered to build up the group as a whole.

We eventually gravitated towards the central café. It is warm enough now to sit outside in the veranda, to share refreshment together and and watch as the sun sets.

Sunset is often used to communicate romantic situations. There is a fire there which warms us. What happens when you step beyond the romance though, and find the secret fire? Will it burn hot enough to carry you into places where you stand out to hold back the floods, and at what cost?