It has been a busy, and traumatic, time for some in Quartz, so this forest church is going to take it easy. It might even become a “cafe church” where we can work on more mirrors for the “Christmas Light” installation. We will enjoy the wonderful surroundings of the estate though, perhaps in the snow!
The meeting point is still the Crichton chapel, but if you miss us – look for the Crichton central cafe!
Phase 1 of “Christmas Light” is installed in the St Johns building. It uses the light in the building to explore the way in which the contributors recieved light and become lights in the world. Their contributions shape that which was already there adding to something bigger than themselves. The building is usually open between 10.30 and 4 if you are able to drop in and experience it.
We are working away and sticking peoples symbols to mirrors. Every ‘Nugget of Joy’ will contribute to the overall effect.
This Sunday, the 18th of December, will see the first component of the artwork installed.
Working away at Frothy Coffee in DumfriesFrom those who gathered for the contemporary service.
As well as for regular services, the building is open for prayer and reflection between 10.30 and 4 each day. You are welcome to drop in and watch the light being gathered and reflected – shaped by all who have contributed.
Remember that this Sunday will be the third in the Month. We will be meeting outside the Crichton memorial church at 2pm. More details will be posted on this site soon!
Selected by human rather than algorithm, here is a memory of what was going on in Quartz three or four years ago! I wonder what is quietly germinating in the ground this winter ready to burst out in the next three of four years!
The featured photos are of a piece of interactive art in a cafe about five years ago. They have spread though facebook and pop will pop in memories for years to come. Another addition to the colourful expression of life in winter.
But have you ever wondered if Angels are real, and if so what they are like?
What is it about Angels that makes the idea appealing, far beyond the walls of church buildings?
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 been contributed so far.
The first stage in the installation will be set up for Sunday the 18th of December, more will follow after that. In the week up to the 18th Simon will be in Dumfries High School RME lessons working with the students there. This is something you can get involved in wherever you are in the world though!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
