The thoughts, dreaming and poetry from last months creative worship.
Clicking this link will take you to a page with all the blog posts about 2nd Sunday creative worship events.
Tag: Creative Worship
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Outerweave in leaves?
Art is part responding to the invisible urges of the moment, and part trudging through debris to carve out a new furrow. Each artist has their own methods, but for me I relish the importance of wildness in the way I work. I expect, and look out for, moments and find that this is rewarded by things coming together in ways beyond what I can imagine.
So several decades of staring at engravings, the waters of the Nith, an opportunity to reflect provided by “The Stove Network” and a day with just the right light on the fallen leaves all came together one morning.
Another Stove project is “Nithraid” and one of it’s themes is restoring the relationship the people of Dumfries has with the river. #NithMirror was born staring at the water, and reflecting – finding insight. The labyrinth in the leaves is made by walking in a way which transforms the park on the river bank.
Within minutes of making the labyrinth kids were racing into the middle of it and puzzling out its path. #NithMirror won’t solve all the problems of flooding, car parking or closed businesses- but it did draw out something deeply rooted in human being, and invites people to become involved with their landscape.
Look out for more #NithMirror incarnations! And take some time out to reflect while you watch a video of the remaking of the labyrinth and listen to Kate singing “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”
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Reconciliation 3rd Sunday Update
There are still brambles on the bushes, apples ripe for picking on the tree. The yard is secluded, and the birds find space to sing. This is an industrial yard, a coal yard, but times have changed and its use has changed with them.
There is broadband so we can meet transatlantic friends and pray together. The physicality of hand skills is used to help people make sense of their surroundings and find confidence. Academics have travelled here to experience primitive firefighting techniques. Philosophy is pursued whilst cleaning mud from tent pegs.
We must not cling to the past, or buildings will become rocks that wreck the future. Even then, the memories, associations and loyalties people have bound up in a place will drag them down with it, swimming trying to keep the memorial afloat.
Which is a negative view! But what can or should be saved from the shipwreck? Why have generations abandoned ship and found fulfillment for their spiritual needs elsewhere? What spiritual assets are locked into victorian stone, and how can we help them sing? What pre-modern learning has been loaded into liturgy, and how can it be laid out as lore for a post modern community dislocated by the experience of global warfare, neo liberalism, and climate crisis?
How can we reconcile ourselves with the past, and meet with Jesus in the present, to empower our walk into the future?
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Reconciliation Update
Come and rest a while. There are still brambles and apples to harvest.
Draw or write on the board. Or e-mail and I’ll print it out and stick it on for you.
Zoom in for some i-spiration
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Reconciliation
“Don’t cling to me”
The first response has been posted on the creative worship board. What does Jesus mean when he gives this instruction to Mary? Can you hear the words thousands of years away in time and still sense the tenderness from the context?
When so much is out of kilter, what to we need to let go of?
When so much is out of kilter, what do we need to keep a firm grasp of?
Take some time out and drop into the wordsmithcrafts workshop yard. Listen to the birds singing while you reflect on the stories.
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2nd Sunday Liturgy (Nov)
Welcome to the 2nd Sunday creative worship service in November. Whether you are online, or in the St Johns building there will be a lot that seems strange.
Join us online in the zoom meeting
Set this time aside to rest from the strain, don’t ignore it as the challenge of encountering the unfamiliar can be healthy and helpful, but rest. 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 the peace of God be with you.
I. INVOCATION
V O God, make speed to save us;
R O Lord, make haste to help us.
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. PSALM
Psalm 46
Another (extended) version of this playlist can be found here if you are online, have a bit more time, and don’t mind a bit more metal)
Time for Reflection Activities
The psalm for this Sunday is followed by a playlist of music videos on the theme of refuge. The following activities have been chosen to suggest a wide range of ways to respond to the psalm. Have a look at the headings and have a go at one or all of them. They will be available online at least unitl the 2nd Sunday in December!
In the St Johns building we will be providing clay, but these reflections activities could be carried out using a wide range of materials at home.
Some Questions
Where do you find refuge? What are the foundations you build your life on? When have you felt alone? When has God been your refuge?
Want to make something with an obvious use?
Labyrinths can be used to help guide your meditation, they can be a visualisation of calming down and placing things in order. Becoming aware of God at the heart of your life.
- Roll the clay into a ball
- Flatten it and roll it out as a disc
- Make a dot in the middle
- Lightly draw 5 circles radiating out from the dot
- Use these lines to trace the path into the centre
- The white lines in the picture are the path your finger takes!
- For a comprehensive discussion about labyrinths have a look at the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal (Winter 2019) (This links to a downloadble pdf file)
Like to work with texts?
You could use this time to write references or words on clay pebbles, stones – or even a wall to remind you of texts you find helpful.
The Cornerstone Standing Stones Legal Refuge Assurance
Graphical Truth, meditation on meaningfulness
If you draw a right angle, wrong, the house will be insecure.
You can discover and explore truth with a bit of string and a straight edge, and these are the foundations on which archetecture is based.
Roll out a flat sheet of clay and take some time exploring the making of patterns (or a pencil, ruler and pair of compases on paper).
There is a pattern of circles within which all the Euclidean solids can be formed – perfectly- and this is constant within the human expereince of physical time and space.
So when you look at a building, perhaps you can wonder at the amazing ability given to Humans? Can it be a way to sense less physically accessible truths?
Perhaps you could make a more permanent reminder of this as a clay mandalla – or a window frame?
Or of course, do your own thing …
III. CANTICLE AND PRAYER
Magnificat
1. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord:
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
2. for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant:
from this day all generations will call me blessed;
3. the Almighty has done great things for me:
and holy is his name.
4. He has mercy on those who fear him:
in every generation.
5. He has shown the strength of his arm:
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
6. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones:
and has lifted up the lowly.
7. He has filled the hungry with good things:
and the rich he has sent away empty.
8. He has come to the help of his servant Israel:
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
9. the promise he made to our fathers:
to Abraham and his children for ever.
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.
Silence or words
Kyrie
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory
are yours, now and for ever. Amen.
Collect
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.
Please send in photos of your response! :
- e-mail quartz@wordsmithcrafts.co.uk and we will collate them for display online
- Get in touch or sign up to the Quartz mailing list!
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Sunday the 10th of May
Creative Worship on Sunday the 10th of May
Use the resources here in your own time. Join us online between 7 and 8 pm on Sunday evening to discuss the theme of “How can we describe a relationship with God”. We may even have some musical worship too.
How to do this will be published on the facebook page (which shows up on this page). Or Email us quartz(AT)wordsmithcrafts.co.uk to be sent an invitation by e-mail.
Resources
These resources can be used just as they are, or might help you reflect on themes which feature in the book “The Shack” and the film of the book. These are themes like: suffering, the ups and downs of a personal relationship with God, how do we imagine “The Trinity” as three persons, and one being?
They will all benefit from taking time to do them, either before or after the meetup online for a discussion, so don’t feel pressured to rush.
Reflect
Joan Osborne wrote a song called “What if God Was One of Us”. This link will take you to a YouTube video, with the lyrics listed.
Listen to the song, watch the video.
Some questions to help you reflect:
* How does thinking of God as “one of us” make you feel?
* Read Philipians ch 2 vs 1-11 and listen to the song again. If God is close, in everyday life, does this tarnish our image of God or does it elevate the ordinary as an antidote to idolatry?
Discuss
Online! with a group of us using jitsi The name of the meeting is QuartzCreativeWorship.
The song we will be using can be found on YouTube https://youtu.be/6fak-h9_o4w
Create
Art is frustrating! The process of producing works of art takes skill and effort. Your perceived lack of success, especially if you invest yourself in the process, can completely undermine your self confidence. However, to not create can be just as bad. You may appear to be successful and conform to everyone’s expectations, but at the expense of suppressing your inner being. The author of “The Shack” uses his imagination to describe his relationship with God in strong images from his culture.
Here is a guide to some activities you could use to explore and express your relationship. Or you could just play with some clay and work through the meanings in Isaiah 45 5 – 13
Learn
What does the word “Theodicy” mean? If you enjoy using your reason to wrestle with complicated thoughts and discover #SensingMeaningfulness then it’s time for some theological research.
*An introductory essay to “Theodicy” can be found here “What is Theodicy”
*A broader discussion can be found here “Theodicy – A Brief Overview”