Category: Mission

Categories
Arts Creative Worship Fresh Expressions Mission Thought of the Day

Creative Worship

In the 1980’s and 90’s something called “Alternative Worship” emerged. What happened, where did the explosion of creative energy lead, how many of the communities are still recognisable and what are the people who were involved doing now?

As a start, here are some links to introduce readers who may be unfamilar with the concept. These are pretty much just a scattering of what I found quickly, there is a lot more from the UK and worldwide.

“God in the House”

A 1996 TV series filmed some of these services in operation. It was in 1996, and even then the introduction made me cringe. However after a year of lockdown and two seasons with the likelyhood of no festivals the atmosphere looks particularly appealing. This was in an era of slide projectors and VHS and while the internet was running on dial up …

“God in the House” on IMDB

An episode featuring the “Late Late Service Community” in Glasgow who I worshipped with for a while until I moved East to St Andrews.

Another one of the episodes, featuring “Grace”

The Wikipedia entry

Alternative Worship

“Grace” – as it is at the moment

Their website

Facebook

Small Fire

A photo image archive of Alternative Worship services – with links to the contributing groups.

Beyond Church

Based in Brighton, ten events a year, including an advent calendar in beech huts. BEYOND is an opportunity for people to explore
spirituality through a variety of creative approaches.

That is all for just now. Please use the comments to add links to any more that you know of.

Categories
Fresh Expressions Mission

Time to Reflect

There is a flow between thinking and doing. It is good to plan ahead, but sometimes you just need to get stuck in and get on with it. This was the approach we took with Quartz. The time has come now to sit back and reflect on what has happened, remember why we started out – and rest, to rediscover Love in the embrace of God.

We will keep track of this process on this blog. So what better way to start off than with a review of magazine articles from St Johns church.

View it here

View the articles here (opens in a new tab)
Categories
Creative Worship Mission

50 days later

A dove descending with flames rising with the message 50 days later everything changed
Pentecost by Simon Lidwell

The festivities of Easter weekend, and the Easter holidays are over.

Scotland is still constrained by lockdown precautions.

What did the first Christians feel like during the days between pascha and pentecost?

After around 2000 years you might think that the surprise is worn out, but has it? All living beings adapt to survive. I’m taking some time out to review, reflect and dream up new ideas. Or perhaps this is better described as discovering new ways of adapting to recognise the presence of God and speak it in new tongues.

So here is something to help you anticipate what is coming.

Categories
climate change Fresh Expressions Lent Mission Uncategorized

Hurt

Today’s lent thinking revolves around Jesus praying in Gethsemane. The story describes him feeling powerful emotions as he anticipates where his path will lead him.

Most people avoid fear and anger and the situations where we may experience these emotional states. There is a tradition of “Via Negitiva” though. I react badly to (hate?) Disney for the decisions they have made to edit out tragedy from old stories, or redress them to promote a simplistic and conservative vision of the USA. I think stories can, and should, help us encounter feelings we hope we will never experience for real and that this will help us handle the times when we have to walk a dark path.

When I was a teenager I was trained to take the good news to my friends. One of my teachers, in particular, combined music and visual imagery. Using a cassette tape and a film projector with actual reels! To help us imaginatively engage with the meaning. The song he chose was “The sound of silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. The experience of frustration has been reinterpreted and expressed by “Disturbed” more recently.

This freedom and adaption to a changing world was a rarity though. Many had a desire to take the gospel relevantly to every generation. Their underlying agenda was to bring people to their vision of Church however. With the best of intentions, it seemed like they would bait activities with fun, reduce their dogma to soundbites, and then expect new recruits to settle down into established church patterns. Young people who were devoted to the Way would be burdened by their elders perceived failures to succeed. Issues like consumerism, climate change and the persecution of people because of their gender and sexuality were badly handled by a culture finding it difficult enough to understand the ethics of vegetarianism.

This song and video helped me work though some of that experience.

I started with a pop/folk song covered by a metal band. A while ago I was intrigued to discover that a metal track composed by “Nine Inch Nails” had become popular in Church circles. The new version was recorded by Johnny Cash towards the end of his life. Hindsight, nostalgia, these are powerful emotions.

What are the consequences of addiction to social order experienced by national churches? To denomination by those trained in that path? All humans need safe spaces to nourish a strong sense of identity in relationship – but how many “little deaths” have young people been forced to make in order to fit in? Where has the support for them been, when they leave the mother ship to establish safe spaces for outcasts and those who question the status quo?

Categories
climate change creation Mission

Tuesday the 16th – Climate Change.

Today is the day (16th of March) The Eco Congregation Scotland network are running a series of events to help you think about things you can do in response to climate change.

Especially since representatives of the current ‘winners’ in the status quo are gathering in Glasgow this year.

You may wish to sign up to find ideas about what the Church worldwide can do to respond to climate change in this “Kairos” moment.

https://climatefringe.org/sccs-live-events/

Categories
Mission Thought of the Day

Stewardship

Our stewardship course met on Burns night this recently. The text we looked at was about bickering pharisees and a man who tried to hoard his wealth rather than share his windfall. (read it here)

It seems that if Burns invested in anything it was in experiences, and the words to describe them. His sponsors helped him make saints out of cottars, in an era where the nations press ganged people onto warships to built empires. Perhaps the same sponsors saw this as a necessary evil. Perhaps they acted to in a way we could now describe as”expanding the floor of the cage ” (Chomsky z-magazine, April 1997)


The thing I took away from the discussion was that the rich man was extractring wealth from the community, tearing down the house space that woudl have held mother-in-laws, or family members who needed a place to stay while they sorted themselves out. More than this, by storing the surplus rather than making it recirculate as investment in the local economy, he was removing wealth from it. Like a politician who borrows money to develop their country (or make a tracking app), pays themselves and then saves that wage in a swiss bank account so that they can retire comfortably. All legal perhaps, but it is the unrepresented young people and low income workers that will be paying off the debt for generations after the politician has died.

Featured image:
Inside a cottar’s house – Part of a display in the Fife Folk Museum.

“His wee bit ingle, blinkin bonilie,

His clean hearth-stane, his thrifty wifie’s smile”

— Robert Burns, The Cotter’s Saturday Night

© Copyright kim traynor and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Categories
Creative Worship Mission prayers

Something for Epiphany

Categories
Mission Thought of the Day

Learning to love

“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…

Read the article here

Categories
Mission Thought of the Day

Progress

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.

Categories
Mission

Hope

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!

Hope Up Close – Church Mission Society carol event 2020 from Church Mission Society on Vimeo.