Category: Interweave

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#SensingSpirituality Arts Creative Worship Fresh Expressions Interweave

Interweave – Internet

How the digital world can help us worship

at 6pm on Sunday the 29th of January we will be gathering in St Johns to use digital technology to worship together, and also explore ways in which access to the digital world can help us live out the Missio Dei, the mission of God.

In the beginning…

One of the first ways I experimented with using the internet as a place to develop ways of being digital church, about sixteen years ago, can be found here https://www.wordsmithcrafts.co.uk/cyberculdee/cyberpilgrim1.html

I was living in a farmhouse without a car and several hours walk outside town, but with broadband I could keep in touch with what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. I just had to switch on my PC and I opened a door to a space where I could learn, pray, and be challenged and inspired. Here is one of the videos from that first pilgrimage into the online world.

The online world has developed considerably since then, and people who were born on the day I made that webpage are now sixteen and adults in Scots law. They have grown up in a world where having an online digital presence is more normal than reading newspapers and where they often communicate with their peers through digital media more frequently than in person.

Can anything good come from the internet?

As people realised that Covid was not something that would be over by Christmas they changed from hunkering down to shelter in a blizzard and started to adapt to prolonged lockdown. For many this opened their eyes to ways in which digital technology could provide ways to overcome the isolation of lockdown, and perhaps grudgingly at first they learned.

It will take a while to understand the impact of those years. This article describes a sequence of adapting to enable people who were isolated by lockdown, extending practices to involve them, and starts to ask questions about how the new normal might disrupt previous assumptions. This one explores similar issues at greater depth and lists some of the challenges to traditional church structures as a result of what was deemed possible and beneficial.

For those comfortable with digital resident behaviour when worshiping lockdown might have been a very positive experience. Prevented from the ability to attend a place they were geographically committed to, they found online spaces to gather and participate with others as Church.

Online spaces like this have existed for a long time, but congregations were swift to adopt video conferencing technology to provide a range of solutions. They used a mixture of interactive gatherings, live transmissions, and pre-recorded liturgies presented at a set time for people to participate in together from their own homes.

St Johns primarily used a combination of webpage and zoom coffee to adapt the 11 O’clock service. As Quartz we used a mixture of online and blended activities, and developed our use of technology to the form you are experiencing today.

A quick taster of what to expect…

Musical worship

We will be using Spotify to sing together. The karaoke setting provides lyrics and a playlist can be pre-selected or made collaborative from the app on peoples smart phones. This is a more social way to use the app than just using it to create a soundscape like the Candlemass one below.

Meditative prayer

Several members of the Quartz team use the “Pray as you Go” app. This is a chance to talk about that.

Intercession
The Prayer Wall
Reading

The SEC gospel reading for the day can be found on the SEC digital calendar which can be viewed on a browser, or downloaded to the calendar app you use on your phone.

Or you could read it in many different translations at Bible Gateway Mark 1:21-28

and if you want to read, and be guided in contemplating the passage, here is something provided by the Jesuits in Ireland

https://www.sacredspace.ie/content/mark-121-28

What do you recommend?

Please bring your ideas, and any examples of ways in which access to the internet has helped you.

Digital Divide

We recognise, and understand, that if you have been working all week in front of a screen you might not want to spend your Sunday evening doing the same! The evening is a chance to meet in person, and converse.

A digital divide exists as well. In Scotland we have a high level of access to digital technology, but lockdown showed that there are rural families who rely on a satellite, and families where all the children needed to share the same device to access school. Please take a moment to look at these projects which work to improve access to appropriate technologies.

Home
This links to their webpage

Digital Participation in Scotland

https://digitalparticipation.scot/

For further research and thought about this topic

Access to theology and worldwide academic research

To what extent can digital Church be Gods instrument for mission, or will those who engage with the divine online remain a marginalised community? This paper discusses online pilgrimage and some of the issues.

https://www.academia.edu/43282609/Pilgrimage_Cyberpilgrimage_and_Missio_Dei_Disruptive_Practices_and_Theology_Insights_for_Digital_Church

An introduction to another academic paper. I’ve not requested the paper yet, but it sounds interesting!

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264507436_Cyberpilgrimage_The_Virtual_Reality_of_Online_Pilgrimage_Experience

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Arts Creative Worship Forest Church Interweave

Forest Lanterns

On Sunday the 30th of October 2022 at 6pm we will be gathering in St John’s church building.

The clocks will be changing to mark the end of British Summer time. The Nights are getting longer and darker, and the trees are drawing into themselves, letting go of their fruit and leaves. Seeds are buried and the end becomes the beginning of something new.

We have prepared a large lantern with light shining through fallen leaves and symbols of harvest. This reminds us that the cosmos declares the glory of God. On the evening participants will be invited to take a word or phrase and ‘plant’ it in their own wee lantern as a prayer.

While making these lanterns we will discuss our memories of #SensingSpirituality over the last year. Especially moments experienced during Quartz Forest Church activities. There will be some projected images as reminders!

While the lanterns are drying, ready to take away, we will rake these thoughts and chats together.

To finish, a wee word of warning, this is not an event to wear your Sunday best to. It will involve leaves, glue, and pens.

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Creative Worship Forest Church Interweave

Help needed!

This Sunday, the 22nd of May, we will be ‘refurbishing’ some fig trees.

Not actual trees, they have their own built in regenerative processes. These are trees that were made for the All Age/informal service back when it used to meet in the hall. They were used to create a ‘grove’ meditative space on good friday as well.

Now they are being refurbished to help create a forest labyrinth for “Bearfest”. As part of the Quartz contribution, we will be bringing a taster of what we do outdoors into the St Johns building. Visitors will be guided to encounter the wild – where bears still live – and reflect on their relationship with it.

All materials and instructions will be provided. This is a meditative activity, thinking about all the good things trees give us.

For contemplative inspiration you could read “The king of the trees”

To understand the extract in context as a warning to those who choose less than adequate leaders without thinking through the consequences read the whole story in Judges!

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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.