Category: Creative Worship

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Arts Creative Worship Interweave

Quartz Candlemas

a collection of beeswax candles

On Sunday the 30th of January we will hold the first Interweave of 2022. It runs from 6 till 7 and please remember to take a lateral flow test before you come. We will need to wear masks while moving around the building.

At an Interweave you can expect to find a broad range of music, arts, and crafts, used to help people practice #SensingSpirituality . They are collaborative but also aim to provide space to participate with integrity for everyone who comes, whether they would consider themselves a close friend of Jesus – or are just curious.

Interweaves are held within the church building, so it is assumed that participants are at least curious though. This makes them slightly different to Quartz Outerweaves, where we use similar activities but in public spaces or where invited and tailor them to the people we meet without such an expectation.

Candlemass 2022

This Interweave starts with the stories of Anna and Simeon. They have been waiting in the temple, praying and expecting their Messiah. When Simeon sees Jesus he bursts into poetry saying

Master, now you are dismissing your servant[e] in peace,

    according to your word;

30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31     which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles

    and for glory to your people Israel.’

read more here…

We are going to focus on the idea that Jesus is the light of the world, a revelation, and do this using candles.

We will present four ways to use the craft of candlemaking to reflect on the text. Each one could be described as being suited to head, heart, hands, or eyes. The head and hearts activities offer a chance to become aware of truths revealed within you. The hands and eyes offer a chance to discover meaning though looking and doing. You may have a preference, but the aim is to provide a diversity of ways to explore and express the subject rather than pigeon hole people!

Heart – Dip candles

This is a ritual, meditative approach. We are using pure beeswax to make these candles, and the activity will take place in a special part of the church surrounded by reflected light and artwork. You are encouraged to dip the candle, then walk around the building or sit and contemplate the events in the temple imaginatively – soaking up the atmosphere. As you build the layers on the candle, sink more deeply into the story. When you light the candle in the future let the remembered light of the experience fill your mind.

Hands – Recycled Wax

Jesus promises transformation. The broken bits of candle can be melted and remade into something new. As you participate in the action of collecting the broken pieces contemplate the spiritual need for and significance of transformation. Let the old become new.

Head – Illuminating letters

Take some time to explore the text. Look up the references and search the links to deeper meaning. This is an area for study and meditation on the meaning. You could express what you find by writing a short piece, or just pick a few words that stand out to you. The paper they are written on can then be waxed and placed into the mould. When you pour wax in they will become part of the candle, illuminated by the burning flame.

Eyes – Illuminating art

Look around the building. The people who built it have expressed their experience of the light of Christ using visual arts. They were inspired by those who came before them and used the best of the art of their era to hand things on. Does anything stand out to you? Capture it in a sketch, or use the pictures printed out to express what is important to you, wax them and place them in the mould ready to be illuminated by the candle.

Sending out

These are the main activities of the evening, but whilst doing them we can discuss with each other and help ‘illuminate’ the story by collaborating.

To recognise that this is a collective and ongoing activity everyone can roll a second beeswax candle, light it and place it in a sand tray together. The candles we have spent the evening making will then be blessed, and you can choose to light it for the first time before you take it away with you from the collective flame.

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AngelCanopy Creative Worship Forest Church Mission

Quantum of Solace

There is a story told of an estate owner. He managed his land by letting it out to tenants. Each one held a plot, and they had freedom to develop it as they saw fit. The story doesn’t say how much help each of them got in establishing themselves, but other stories let us assume that the owner was generous. They knew they were tenants, and that the owner would one day decide to collect the return on his investment.

However, when the owner sent other servants to claim the rent, the tenants had changed. Some had sublet the property, others had automated production. All of them had forgotten the owner of the land. the servants were abused and sent back empty handed.

The estate owner sent out more servants to remind the tenants and collect the rent. This time the tenants abused the servants and filled social media with posts to sway public opinion. The servants’ reputations were attacked and they were portrayed as foolish idealists.

So, the estate owner sent his son and heir. The reckoning was that this would remind the tenants of how it had been in the beginning, and give them one last chance. Like going himself, but leaving an opening to show leniency.

Even then, however, the tenants closed their minds to the reality of the situation. They killed the child and claimed that the land was their freehold. Confident in their control of the narrative they edited the owner out of the story, and sought to continue their lifestyles in comfort for perpetuity.

How do you think the landowner acted?

Of course he kicked the tenants out, their anguish and frustration was epic. They were in the wrong though, and once this came into the light no amount of PR or spin could cover up their treachery.

This is the way it is with all political and religious leaders who forget where authority lies. This is the message of Saturnalia, or the baptism of John and something Dickens tried to tell his readers. Those who seek to gain the world will lose it, but those who are willing to be broken will find life. It is a story for those who are in positions of privilege, may all of us be given the grace to see ourselves as we really are.

There is another story though. This is a story for those who are broken, all who seek, and everyone who wanders with their eyes open.

Even in the mirk there is light. This light has always been here, and it distinguishes those who have their eyes open from those who choose the wrong pill. This light is a seed at the beginning of time. It is God herself pregnant with creation. The quantum of solace that links heaven and earth. Not everyone recognises it, and those you might expect to get it, are often the ones who find it hardest to adapt their lives to this deep old magic in the present moment.

For those that can though, it is the baby’s cry at the birth of Love itself. It is the light from a star formed by the conjunction of heavenly bodies becoming visible in the humblest of places. With even just the smallest amount of humanity shared in a relationship, many frustrations can be worked through. This story is the good news that God shares humanity with creation, and has placed the seed potential to become children of God within the womb of time. The most ordinary thing we know of can become divine.

So today is an invitation to co-create. Follow the star, and see where it leads.

Merry Christmas.

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AngelCanopy Arts Creative Worship

Canopy of Angels Update

This video clip has been made for the Sunday before Christmas. The canopy is almost complete – and just waits for a star to appear for Christmas day.

The development of the canopy

Angels have been contributed by individuals and groups throughout Dumfries, as well as the community of St John’s. They have been folded in homes, cafes, coffee shops and pubs around the town. There is still time to contribute, A batch is being prepared in Dumfries High School, and we can collect the Angels to hang them for you.

The canopy will be installed throughout January, please look at the St Johns website diary to find out when you can view it in person. We would usually have the building open for you to drop in during daylight hours, but Covid conditions mean that this may not be possible.

Contact us to arrange a time
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Creative Worship

Networking

This Angel flew in from Fife. You can take part in the #canopyofangels by sending folded paper to St Johns, in person when the building is open, or online…

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AngelCanopy Arts Community Creative Worship

St John’s Canopies pt. 2

On several occasions we have used stars. This post combines work from several installations and settings. We adapted our approach for each setting to work appropriately with the setting.

In a general sense we used the craft of making paper stars as a way to help participants reflect on “Wishes” and work out which of those thoughts could become genuine “Hopes”. Using a physical craft activity to provide a focus for developing skills in understanding the collection of invisible thoughts and feelings which make humans more than just skin and bones! The task also encouraged some rational thinking and critical self evaluation.

Part of the Display in Dumfries High School

We provided several methods for making stars and engaging with the activity. For those who were skilled with words, and perhaps less keen on the technical demands of the task, we provided options such as using poetry to express themselves or a guide to critical evaluation and self led reflection that could then be applied to customise ready made stars. For those who think with their fingers, or when presented with the opportunity to experiment we provided materials fro them to fold and glue stars as they took some time for reflection. The cut out a shape with scissors – snowflake – stars left lots of room for imaginative exploration. some people preferred to work in silence, and others found that their ideas flowed when they chatted with each other. The sky is vast and there are many ways to fill it with stars.

In the Church community setting this approach could be taken deeper into the Christian tradition. Because everyone there had chosen to be there, and had some level of interest in Christianity, we explored the symbolism of stars more fully. Specific hopes associated with Christmas could be explored, and texts studied – as well as the ways in which we can hope for Gods help in our daydreams and visions becoming refined and made into reality.

The stars were displayed in the Schools we worked with, and also as part of the large canopy in the roof of St Johns building. Other star related activities we explored included a talk about the astronomical observations around the time of Jesus birth, their significance, and also a banner inspired by the view of the stars from the door of St Johns on each Sunday in Advent. Stars were embroidered, knitted and ironed onto fabric using a heat press.

  • Hanging Stars
  • The Advent Banner
  • Four Sundays
  • A Star Chart For Each
  • Different Techniques
  • One Hanging Banner

The work with the school was carried out according to “Time for Reflection/ Religious Observance” guidelines. These provide an excellent framework for activities involving #SensingSpirituality in community settings. You can download the activity pack below:

A-Star-Of-Hope-Activity-PackDownload
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AngelCanopy Arts Creative Worship Thought of the Day

St John’s Canopies

We are folding a Canopy of Angels this Christmas. We are doing this to invite people to mark moments from the past couple of years, and to mark this moment in time entering Christmas 2021. All are welcome to join in, and by working together our personal thoughts can be carried up as part of something bigger.

This has a myriad of meanings for Christians, but is also something we can join in with the wider community in doing. The building can be used to help carry everyone’s thoughts and form a whole community art installation. Who knows what it will look like? We have an idea, but this is a collaborative project that will be shaped by everyone who gets involved.

To help give an idea of what it might look like, ands how what we can do if we work together, we are posting some of the ways we have used the canopy idea in St Johns and working with other groups in the past. The first is “The Canopy of Flames” in 2015

The Pentecost “Canopy of Flames” was our first experiment. People wrote their passions on flame coloured ribbons. The flames were lowered as the congregation took communion together. It (and other uses of fire by Quartz) even features in this Phd thesis by Rebekah Dyer of St Andrews University.

We worked with St Ninians Primary School to help the pupils reflect on how they could express their passions, or things that made them feel good about being alive, using words and art.

The flames were woven into a banner at a later “Interweave” event

And here is a gallery of images

  • Does anything strike you when you see the photos?
  • Are you reminded of anything?
  • What are you inspired to do?
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Creative Worship Forest Church Thought of the Day

Ingredients

When I am physically illuminating a text with ink, I use pigments like ground up soil, or oak galls and Iron salts. When I am digitally illuminating I use a colour pallet from a photograph of a place. Alison makes paper where the leaves become one with the page, and has a catalogue of colours where fabric has been dyed through using the plants and water where she lives.

This artist uses sound. Here is a short introduction:

We come from dust, we return to dust – but every grain can be where the substance of life finds a home.

In what ways will the potential placed by God within you be revealed? Do you dare to seek out a conversation with the source of everything, and co-create as a child of God?

Read more in the air you breathe and the texts which we have inherited.

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AngelCanopy Arts Creative Worship

Advent Angels

This Christmas Quartz is creating a large scale installation in the roof of St. Johns Church Building.

In the run up to Christmas, we are going to fill the ceiling with a rainbow of Angels. Each one can be a response to Covid, a way to mark a memory, and a prayer carried in a message to God. Each Sunday in Advent we will add more Angels, and they will stay up throughout the Christmas season.

Interesting things are also being planned for Candlemas.

We are going to make the Angels using origami. They will be all the colours of the rainbow. For those who would like to participate but are worried about their origami skills we will have people to help you. We will also have Origami angles made you can write on, and shiny silver and gold angels ready cut out so that everyone can make this project sparkle.

Just as in the past when we have installed “Stars of Hope” and Pentecost flames in the building, we invite the whole community to be involved. We will produce an info pack with folding instructions and guidance on how to make this process a mindful moment. The Church will be open during services so people can see the canopy take shape, of course, and also at other times which will be advertised on this site and elsewhere.

To whet your appetite, here is a gallery of images of other Angel artwork and canopies around the UK and beyond.

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 18: 10
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Creative Worship Forest Church Fresh Expressions

Ready for Winter?

Open Doorway

Forest Church meeting, 2pm Chrichton Church Dumfries, Sunday the 31st

The significance of this time has been recognised by humans from a time before writing. As Autumn moves towards winter the plants in the northern hemisphere start to die back. Harvests have been gathered in, and the Cailleach prepares to wash her plaid in the Corryvreckan ready to spread it over Scotland until Brìghde returns with the Sun.

The last few years have been difficult and strange for many people. Winter gives us time to gather in communities. To sit round fires with friends and strangers and search out god waiting to be discovered in their faces and stories (it has been written that some who practice hospitality have unknowingly entertained angels).

How do we react to adversity, the experience of suffering and even death?

Of the peril of the holy bishop Cólman moccu Sailni in the sea near Rathlin island: Likewise, another day, while St Columba was in his mother church, he suddenly smiled and called out: “Cólman mac Beognai has set sail to come here, and is now in great danger in the surging tides of the whirlpool of Corryvreckan. Sitting in the prow, he lifts up his hands to heaven and blesses the turbulent, terrible seas. Yet the Lord terrifies him in this way, not so that the ship in which he sits should be overwhelmed and wrecked by the waves, but rather to rouse him to pray more fervently that he may sail through the peril and reach us here.”

Adomnan – Life of Columba C8th AD (penguin translation)

There is a hope that keeps us going. We can grow larger, so that the hard edged grief which rattles around inside our being seems to become smaller and hurts less. Bitter things can be laid in the ground and left to die, while new things grow.

We will meet on Sunday the 31st of October to read the “Book of Creation”. To reflect on the hope the “God with us and who saves” brings and to help each other find safe passage through the winter and the changes which the season brings. More details will be published soon – please use the comments to communicate the sorts of things you would like to explore! or e-mail them to Quartz if you prefer.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from when we brought something of the outside into St Johns to have a picnic with our ancestors.

Images from the 2014 “Eve of the Living Dead” All Souls Interweave
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creation Creative Worship Thought of the Day

Dust to Dust or Light to Light?

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