Quartz at St Johns Dumfries
At Forest Church gatherings we have spent our time getting to know the Crichton estate. This has been quite informal, but now we are on their website as an official event.
“Harvest” Plants give up their fruits for us to consume (among other animals) So, we give up our fruits for others (the rich?) to consume. Is this exploitation; oppression? Our labour, our products – what we produce in value used indiscriminately ( a rare pleasure to choose to whom we give, and even then, is it a choice?) Or: is it humility and service? Always seemingly, replenished by that life-giving stream a life-giving stream of many waters replenishing, replenishing Spirit of God bestowing gifts of understanding. How I want To understand.
Practice using sling (tennis balls, not lead bullets, for shot). See if you can hit a target. Get a feel for the place and the weather.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him.
Samuel 17
In the story, Goliath is a mighty giant of a warrior. Like the Nephilim or the Jotun of Northern climates. His spear had a head the weight of a bowling ball and a shaft like weaving beam. His armour weighed as much as a young woman. Morning and evening he challenged any Israelite to face him in single combat and to claim victory in the war…
26 David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ …
31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, ‘Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ 33 Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.’ 34 But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.’ 37 David said, ‘The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Go, and may the Lord be with you!’
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NRSVACE
David faces down Goliath with five smooth pebbles from a river, and a sling. This will loose a bullet that hits like a .44 magnum, but still if David were to miss he had no sword. His first shot avoids goliaths helmet and fells him, then using Goliaths own weapons David kills him and takes his head as a trophy. The war is won.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed, if not because of particular catastrophes then from a stream of 24/7 news, voices in the supermarket queue, and chats with acquaintances. What can we do in the face of such Giant threats? Do we blame ourselves and regard our lives as worthless in dismay or do we look for a super hero saviour with a magic bullet that will make everything better? That is one possible response to the story of David and Goliath, if we read it as an onlooker.
The Church in the west, especially in the modern era, has had a tendency to separate matter from spirit, humanity from creation and to then either represent nature as a vastness to be overcome and tamed, or raw resources to be managed. Both of these approaches overlook that our being is within the natural world. John uses the contrast between light and darkness, but the light is always there in the world, and the darkness does not slacken it.
There is no pain in our hearts or in our planet that you do not know,
for you have touched the lowest places on earth.
Silence
Teach us to grieve with you, O Christ,
the loss of all the beauty that is being killed.
Silence
There is no place in the heavens that cannot be touched by your resurrection presence,
for you fill all things.
Silence
Give us strength in your victory over death to grow into your way of love,
which does not despair but keeps sowing seeds of hope and making signs of wholeness.
Silence
In Christ all the parts of the body fit together
joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is provided.
Each part working together, promotes the body’s growth,
building itself up in love.
Silence
Teach us to recognise our interconnectedness with all things.
Teach us to grow with each other and all living creatures through love.
Amen.
Hold a hazelnut in your hand (shell some too if you like!)
From Meditations with Julian of Norwich
I saw that God was everything that is good and encouraging. God is our clothing
that wraps, clasps and encloses us so as never to leave us.
God showed me in my palm a little thing round as a ball about the size of a hazelnut.
I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and asked myself:
‘What is this thing?’
And I was answered: ‘It is everything that is created.’
I wondered how it could survive since it seemed so little it could suddenly disintegrate into nothing.
The answer came: ‘It endures and ever will endure, because God loves it.’
And so everything has being because of God’s love.
Hazelnuts in their shells are about the same size as a roman slingshot bullet. Faith the size of a mustard seed is all that is needed though! What if instead of thinking of ourselves as separate from creation, or alienated in from God and in need of salvation, we thought of God as a creator who is creating us. The artist is never entirely separate from their art, and this can be a whole world of pain! There is a longing for the work to be finished, complete, and revealed. Every attempt leads towards this, and the longing gives worth to all the scrunched up pieces of paper that are discarded. All the slingshots which miss the target are not wasted. Even better news is that we can be Davids. Any of the warriors in the Israelite armour could have taken the challenge, but they didn’t. It was a shepherd that stepped forward, unencumbered by the preconceived ideas of how warfare should be carried out. Vulnerable to being called dishonourable, if it were not that he was laughed at because of the inequality in size.
12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[e] who is close to the Father’s heart,[f] who has made him known.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201&version=NRSVACE
As autumn progresses, look for hazelnuts. For signs that God is with you.
Almighty God and Father,
you have so ordered our life
that we are dependent on one another:
prosper those engaged in commerce and industry
and direct their minds and hands
that they may rightly use your gifts in the service of others;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
All Amen.
[1] Adapted from “The Iona Worship Book” Creation Liturgy, The Iona Community
What giants threaten you and yours? How will you face them…
2pm outside the Crichton chapel. 17th of September.
Dress for the weather, because it’s going to win.
Litter picking, games mornings, walking with Jesus where people are..
Canklow faces isolation, deprivation, antisocial behaviour. We have a few people who are struggling, so they take it out on people’s property or other people. But it’s a good place as well because we have community spirit and no matter what anyone goes through, guaranteed someone’s going to be there to help you. Which is what I’m trying to grab hold of and spread out more.
This is an example of the traditional Church responding to God’s nudging, and supporting someone to grow the kingdom where they live.
Continuing the liturgical theme, do our liturgical prayers in Church carry the lamentations of those caught in climate anxiety ?
Is there room to confess our experiences of being caught in the grip of the vice of oil dependence and unsustainable lifstyles ?
Do we leave absolved of our sins against the creation we are part of, ready, transformed to sin no more?
What questions do you have after listening to this discussion!
The relationship between the language we use to describe what we see, and the way in which we see things is an ages old topic of study. Think about the sentence you just read. When I used the word ‘see‘ you hopefully understand I mean more that just ‘visually observe‘. Sight is a very important sense for humans, so much so that when someone says “I see your point now” we understand that they understand. However we do not intend to imply that those who have visual impairments are unable to understand. Or that those who are unable to tell you what colour the horse they are imagining is, do not know what a horse is.
Consider then the importance of liturgy. If the use of words to describe everyday things is prone to misunderstanding, how much more so when we are thinking about divinity? Imagine the words used are like a scaffolding to help people hold together while we build each other up, constructing a house of prayer, what happens if there is a wrongness in our use of language? Simple mistakes might be quick to observe and remedy. Long term systematic wrongness might be more difficult to identify, and like the famous leaning tower, still hold together but be wonky. The building still holds together, but would you want to move there?
This video is a discussion that takes time to step back and think about ways in which language has been used. Recorded during lockdown it is an example of how stepping back to reflect helps us transform our experiences.
People have been sending in photos from the August Forest Church.
Back in 2021 I wrote a report reviewing Quartz activities for the vestry at St Johns in Dumfries. I used the diagram (Pioneer Spectrum) that is the key image for this post to help give a structure for the report.
A new version of the diagram has been released and the changes made to it are described here. Following that and for the last two years we have been trying things out and seeing what works. As we reach the end of the summer in Scotland, this post is the start of a time of reflection. We can gather in the harvest, and think about what to let go of in autumn, incubate over the winter and plant in spring.
If you like to start with what is happening now, rather than reading the background first, ignor the links and start with this video which introduces the newly updated Pioneer spectrum toolkit.
There is a whole toolbox to help shape discussions and provide some theoretical framework.
The pioneer spectrum tool is designed to help explore all of these questions…
You can explore that here
If you were at CLC on Monday the Pioneer Spectrum cards to help with your personal reflection can be found here:
https://churchmissionsociety.org/files/pioneer-spectrum-cards/
Forest Church – 20 August 2023
Shelter is our theme today, sensing God’s protection in the natural world.
“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”
Share a sign of peace.
Celtic Prayer
I arise today
Through a mighty strength:
God’s power to guide me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s eyes to watch over me;
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to give me speech,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to shelter me,
God’s host to secure me.
Amen.
Song – You Are My Hiding Place – lead by Gloria
You are my hiding place
You always fill my life
With songs of deliverance
Whenever I feel afraid I will trust in You
I will trust in you
Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of the Lord (Repeat).
Reading: Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea:
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved:
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us:
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth:
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two:
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
The Lord of hosts is with us,
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Finding a shelter or refuge – worshipping actively
We all go and look for a place to encounter the protection of God. It could be a tree trunk, a low branch, a hollow in the ground…
If you can, feel free to take a photo of your refuge to share with the group later…or just describe it in words!
(Those of our group who can’t do this physically can explore with their minds and spirit…)
Celtic Blessing for a summer’s evening
I have travelled the week in trust and travail.
My soul’s teacher, help me to clarify and bring order to the muddle of this week
Pause for self-reflection
Into your hands I commit the burdens and unresolved issues of this week: as I sleep may the Holy Ones give me insight and help to bring them to resolution.
Holy Mystery, I come in quietness to the hearth of rejoicing,
Where your sacred fire ever burns.
I enter the hospitality of your heart with joyfulness.
Amen.
Based on Celtic Devotional, Caitlin Matthews.
http://www.faithandworship.com/Celtic_Blessings_and_Prayers.htm#ixzz2jf6VPtFw