We left the house and went searching for a star. It’s so overcast that we couldn’t see geese overhead (though we heard them), let alone the conjunction of Jupter and Saturn.
We didn’t see the star. However, in our journeying we discovered many interesting things while we journeyed. It was also just good to get out of the house to enjoy something slightly spontaneous.
The light installations in the town centre were also great to see! Give thanks for the artists who make our built up environments more human places to inhabit.
New lighting has been installed in the St Johns building. Pews have been blocked off to ensure safer distancing. It’s strange to be indoors with others on a Sunday, rather than in my wee room and connected worldwide…
Although for many years things like facing east have drawn attention to the connection between the saint that is deeper than broadband.
“Raising kids during climate catastrophe” (a point of view from the USA)
How can something as simple as lighting a candle move you from one ‘bubble’ of normal into another? Well, it takes time, but our hearts will learn to lie where we spend our time – whether that’s in a building we say is special, familiar rituals, or a pattern of social media use…
Welcome to the 2nd Sunday creative worship service in December. It’s the 3rd Sunday in Advent! Pink Candles, St Lucia and much more!
Whether you are avoiding #Whamageddon or are a #Whamhunter please join us in taking some time out to use this at your convenience or meet us online at 3. (No in person meeting today)
You are not in this alone, and we have the heritage of the Church spread throughout time and space to draw on. Take time to become aware of your feelings, your thoughts, your breathing, and may the peace of God be with you.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.
II. Reading and Psalms
Luke 1 : 46b – 55 and Psalm 126
Time for ReflectionActivities
Today we are remembering Mary singing a song. This song links to the words of the prophets in her tradition, and has inspired generations who follow after her.
Each person, community, generation …ethnos, takes what they value and expresses it. We also learn to sense value through immersion in this stuff of culture. If this is done with respect then the transition between generations can flow smoothly. Times of technological advance, scarcity, famine, and other crises can threaten this natural growth however and the 20th century has seen massive change.
One such change is the rise of social media. With it has come the rise in popularity of things like visual memes. Perhaps they are a bit like the hit songs of the 60’s. They help define subcultures, and people to express their thoughts and feelings. This time for reflection will help you make some of your own.
The first thing to notice is that they are never simply a picture of text. Even if they are a picture of text.
By combining text with an image (or lack of one) they attract the viewer’s attention and evoke a response. Successful memes invite you to use them to express your identity, establish your boundaries by incuding other people. To be a little provocative, but perhaps in a way which makes people laugh, then think, then laugh again.
Some memes simply state an opinion. Draw attention to what looks like a fact of life.
Other memes build on people’s experience of the type of meme to make simple statements about quite complicated issues.
Look at the passage or psalm we started with. Mull it over in the context of prayer. Talk with someone if that helps you both! Find somewhere quiet if that is your thing.
Are there any words of phrases which stand out?
Are there any pictures which come to mind or reinforce your thoughts?
Does it remind you of a good joke?
Express yourself. You could write it as a simple piece of text or a memory verse. You could add graphics or paint a picture. Using technology you could take the words and overlay them on a photo – or find a meme already in use and adapt it. There are even resources online to help you make your own memes (like Imageflip but look around for one which you are comfortable using, and remember to ask if you are not paying to use it – what other costs are involved?)
Finally.
Worship and prayer can happen wherever people are, at any time, and whether they are alone or with others. But Liturgy is the structured and shared worship that Christians engage in when they are together – as Jesus said, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name.’
The last year has seen many people move online for shopping, work, socialising and to maintain their relationships and community. For some it has been like moving to another country. For some, especially those under 50 it is the country they have grown up in. If meeting and sharing is core to liturgy, then having visited this ‘new online world’ by learning the skills like creating memes you have made, adapting to accommodate this form of expression, we can help grow a Church which is less ‘alien’ for many people.
Stir up our prayers, Lord, and hear us: that they who are sorrowful and suffering may rejoice at the Advent of your only-begotten Son; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord: Thanks be to God!
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing: through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The texts linked to above are taken from the readings The Scottish Episcopal Church will be exploring as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Read them in your prefered translation, if you follow the links you can read them in a multitude of translations and paraphrase though. Pray and let the Holy Spirit breathe through the looseness of language. Think critically and check your thoughts with the measuring rods of tradition and reason.
On the 2nd Sunday we will be thinking creatively and taking inspiration from the text to work out some everyday mantras. Short things to mull in your mind while you wait in a queue 2m apart from people. Prayers for putting on your mask. Habit forming phrases to help infuse your life with the flavour of God. Prayers we can work on together that will weave inner and outerwear to build Christlike minds and bodies which are ready for any apocalypse.
Please use the comments to suggest anything you find in advance. Trawl through your meme stash and see what is fitting to offer.
As usual, the liturgy for the evening will be available online – we will have a zoom link and a chance to meet in person- use the registration form.
When the Israelites decide that they want a king, like other nations, they are told by their prophet that the king will take their children, their wealth, and the best of their produce. They go ahead with it anyway and choose Saul.
The idea that the rich get rich from the work of the poor is not new. Some justify it by saying that it is right to reward those who excel, and that this encourages progress which benefits everyone. Others argue that (rare) examples of those who have worked their way to the top from the bottom up are used by the rich to blame the less privileged for their own lack of success.
Why in the 21st century UK does our economy leave some people starving themselves so their kids can eat, while those they elect to represent them eat in fine restaurants?
Perhaps part of it is that when we invented robot slaves to do our clothes washing, instead of gaining more leasure time, people washed their clothes more often. Perhaps it is because once consumers are alienated from manufacturers the worth of what has been produced can become lost in politics.
These questions may be of interest. However the crucial question is “what can you do about it?” In what ways can our actions help progress work for the common weal? Can we build a global community where technology meets humanities basic needs, and allows art, philosophy and spiritual fulfillment to flourish?
Everyone will have their own response, perhaps some will post suggestions in the comments.
But what has this to do with analogy or creative worship?
If we allow ourselves time to experience wonder, and put into practice the belief that God is generous, then we can train ourselves to notice the goodness in everything.
This video uses timelapse to speed up the process of crystals forming. Where did the idea to do this come from though? Perhaps someone had to spend a day without timelapse noticing the beauty – they then became able to draw everyone’s attention to what they noticed, with the aid of timelapse.
Water is referred to a lot in the gospels. We learn to understand Jesus with an analogy of being thirsty and needing a drink. This is then developed to imagining a type of water that if you drink then you will never be thirsty again. Some people react to the experience of dissatisfaction or continuing spiritual thirst, after they have chosen Jesus, by thinking that “life giving water” is just an analogy and the reality will be encountered in full when we pass through death into eternal life.
Learning to delay gratification is an essential life skill! However, doesn’t Jesus also stress the presence of the fullness of God in life now?
If we spend time watching ripples, experiencing the way light sparkles, the different sensations of taste then we can enjoy the reality of water now. Not just so that we can write blog posts, or make better analogies, but because in living we learn to live and enjoy life.
Art, Scientific method, even suffering can then become cups that hold the living water. If we can encounter and explore reality through them, then religion, worship, can help us express and explain what we encounter as a community. If we practice the presence of God, then we learn to taste the presence of God in something as common as water. Or in the physical and chemical properties of tin.
There is a reality in words. There is a reality in deeds.
When one is lacking it is challenged to perform by the other. The aim should be to use words to inspire deeds though, and great deeds inspire songs and poetry. Or, perhaps simply a like, smile or love emojii.
Here are some examples from round the world of people inspired by hope, carrying out deeds, that inspire hope. It’s early for baubles – but it’s been a tough year for many!
For some the step forward will be the experience of working with their hands, growing things, and encountering a primitive world to balance a lifestyle of technology and 24/7/365 artificial light. By relinquishing their acknowledged position of dominance they can restore the relationship.
For others it will be access to education, birth control and the technology of overconsuming cultures. In being freed from the vice of poverty they will be able to care for creation. In gaining practical control they will be able to restore the relationship.
