A song from my childhood
What balance of responsibilities and rights does our relationship with heaven and earth require?
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Psalm 8
What is your relationship with your environment? Or perhaps a better place to start is to reflect on how you perceive your relationship with all that is around and within you.
Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by the absence of the things we hope for. It can seem like a struggle to animate lifeless dust, and hold everything together. Perhaps there is a fear that if we stop, then everything will just crumble and fall apart.
There is good news. While all these feelings are real, and deserve acknowledging, we are also children of light. God the creator creates and sustains all things in being. We are children of light, and the way has been opened so we can become the fulfillment of the potential that is in the fabric of the cosmos.
If you are stressed, let the knowledge of the love of God (for you) fill your heart and mind. Breathe. Let it be the light in which you see your self, reflected in your relationships, and with which you illuminate the room.
See more of the installation by Rob Mulholland here…
2009 Vestige
This post is a collection of the things which Quartz people have been sending in because they found them interesting.
Creation time
This year Eco-Congregation Scotland and Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) combine to provide a bank of resources of real value to congregations, in a variety of current media, to facilitate ‘Creation Time/Creationtide/Season of Creation’ as, with Christians around the world, we dedicate this short season to reflection on our often troubled relationship with the Earth.
Nature Focused Daily Meditation
Encountering Christ in Nature
Without a sense of the inherent sacredness of the world—of every tiny bit of life and death—we struggle to see God in our own reality, let alone to respect reality, protect it, or love it. The consequences of this ignorance are all around us, seen in the way we have exploited and damaged our fellow human beings, the dear animals, the web of growing things, the land, the waters, and the very air. My good friend and co-author Patrick Boland invites us to experience Christ in nature:
Nomas
These guys are based in Dundee, you might find some of the opinions they express in their intro video a wee bit harsh – but will that stop you from hearing the points they are making?
Contribute
If you have seen something you would like to show other people, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise – send the link in to Quartz
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Transfiguration
Everything that lives, changes.
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Transcendence
There is a much quoted insight gained by Jeremiah when he watched a potter working away making clay pots.
This can be encountered in many ways. For a moment though, imagine what it is like to be the clay on a potters wheel.
Your centre is hardly moving at all, but travelling outwards the speed at which your substance moves increases. If you were standing, spinning and stretched out your arms they would fly at a dizzying speed. It would feel like every atom of your being had an urge to fly off into space.
(Please read the artists description as well as watching the film)
The summer in Scotland is nearing harvest and autumn. I can see apples ripening on the trees outside my window, and that always reminds me that I need to plan ahead if I want to be able to do more than clear them from my drive into compost!
There has been a lot of reflection and discussion over the summer, so now it is time to do some planning.
We will do this on Sunday the 22nd of August at 3pm In Andy and Glorias house as well as online.
We plan to discuss:
Ignatian Spirituality
Following the success of the first session Philip has suggested discussing meeting as a CLC group (Christian Life Community) This could meet once or twice a month. It would start with a focus on Ignatian spiritualty but is described more generally as
We meet regularly in small groups to pray and share, supporting one another through the ups and downs of ordinary life. In listening to one another we grow to understand ourselves, deepen our relationship with God and discover more clearly how each one of us is uniquely called to respond to God’s love.
From the CLC website
Forest Church
We could try running some “Forest Church” type events once a month. At these we would explore being and meeting as church in interdependence with our environment – Outside of the building. This would be a development of the “Sensing Spirituality” walks we have already done.
The Floating Monastery
The Floating Monastery is adrift in time, but rooted in History
Following on from work carried out with Hidden Histories a few years ago, especially in NW Dumfries, this is a concept which combines arts, crafts, heritage and spirituality to help people think about where we have come from, where we are and possible futures. It will use activities familiar to those who have taken part in “Outerweaves” as well as testing out some new ideas. Expect a bit of environmental activism, costumed characters revealing hidden stories, and of course some weaving.
Interweaves
All this activity outside the building can be brought inside the building too. About four times a year we have created multimedia events with large scale installations. It looks like this will be a possibility this year again.
Creative Worship
As well as activity organised by Quartz, people will hopefully be inspired and supported to continue to explore and serve within the community and services of St Johns and the wider church. We will hopefully be able to continue this both online and in person.
And perhaps more too…
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Solo Pioneers?
Enterprise is a buzz word going around. School pupils today are being trained for jobs that don’t exist yet. Traditional economic models are crumbling as we reap the hidden costs of industrialisation, and it’s collapse.
But what does it take to get a new enterprise going? Many won’t survive, but some will.
Legend tells that Ninian arrived in what is now Scotland as a missionary bishop to the Southern Picts across the water from his native Cumbria . He wasn’t alone though. Martin of Tours trained him and sent 12 disciples with him.
Well over a thousand years later the story continues. Like all good stories it’s telling adapts with the audience. So whether at the moment you are the shirtless wierdo, the early adopter, or someone who finds their self in a crowd there is plenty of opportunity from you to play your part.
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Instalations
With “The Eve of the Living Dead” we combined “All souls Eve” with retro film titles, Marigolds, and South American traditions.
We made the tissue paper marigold in cafes around Dumfries, chatting with anyone who was interested, and using this as a discussion point to talk about life and death – as well as how we remember people.
The photo is of the installation we made for an Interweave. We prepared a picnic with the cloud of saints who surround us. The green leaves and marigold flowers shed light into a gloomy area of life.
The events of the evening were enjoyed by young and old. This gave space and time to find out more and explore the symbolism. The installation remained set up for week as a reminder of the changing season.
What types of installation can you imagine?
What inspiration can you find in the current fabric of the building – and how could you help draw peoples attention to it?
What events, activities, or rituals would help communicate the good news we have recieved to both the community of St Johns and the wider community of Dumfries?
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Summer
We can’t control time, but we can change our awareness of it.
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Finding the Depth
Humans are deeply spiritual animals. For centuries in Scotland this has been explored and expressed through the Church. In the last century however this has changed.
At one time the Church provided political authority, social services, education, healthcare, and the opportunity to experience the best of the arts. A church was the place to go to to access these things, or to contribute to the provision of them for those in need. When many of these tasks were delegated to secular authorities the Church remained as the spiritual specialist, proving access to deeper things.
Can a church so disconnected from secular life continue to do this though?
For some church life still blends seamlessly with their everyday life, and going to a church on a Sunday is like drinking deeply from a well which flows into every day and everywhere they go.
Others find beauty on mountain tops, mystery in forests, charity when they watch TV ads and Love in the extended family experience of a hobby club. They mark births and deaths through social media, and relationship changes with status updates. When they search for deeper spiritual experiences they have a global culture to explore. Here is an example – for these experiences to be genuine, do they have to be experienced through Church?
You try … you fail … failure is not bad … it is the way to grow.
Jesus talked about a shepherd leaving the bulk of his flock grazing where they were content in order to go searching for the one rogue sheep.
How much effort do our churches put into preserving buildings and the orders of service they inherited, while about 80% of the decendants of the people who built those buildings never enter them?
In psalm 23 the author talks about dwelling in the house of the Lord. If you read the beginning of the psalm though most of the time is spent on the move, finding new waters, seeking out grass.
Churches need caretakers who can look after the building and anoint tired brows with refreshing oils. They also need pioneers who will wander with semi-feral sheep and goats. Ones who carry big sticks to face the darkness, and who are skilled in diving deep in search of adventure.