What’s been happening in October with Quartz Forest Church
The harvest is gathered in and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees. Here is a quick overview of how we have been responding to this time of year.
Tabernacle trip
Here is a collection of photos and reading from the special forest Church day we held in October. We visited Cairnholy to “Feel small, but in a good way” as we reflected on the passage of time.
We also drew on the Jewish tradition of setting up tabernacles/booths after harvest for the festival of “Sukkot”
Quartz Forest Church at the Crichton
On the third Sunday we met at the Crichton as usual. We took time to notice the change in the season as we move into autumn. We used the fallen leaves to create a wheel. This was divided into four, to represent the seasons, and then we walked round the wheel to reflect on our passage through time. At each point we stopped and thought about that particular seasonal change and our relationship to it.
Some Taize also featured!
School Visiting
When Simon goes into schools to help with history lessons, sometimes he will adopt the character of “Cathbad” from the Viking Era. The (primary school) pupils get to meet someone from their past. This is used to help them think about differences and similarities between their lives and people from the past, as well as find an interest in learning about the places they live in.
Cathbad set up in a school classroem
You may notice some similarities between the shelter used at QFC and the shelter in the school! This is one of the ways in which the Cluaran heritage work of Wordsmith Crafts CIC harmonises with the Quartz project.
Gathering by the water to eat fish and share stories
Where the River Nith meets the Cluden water at Lincluden
This Forest Church experience was set up to provide participants with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the gospel stories where the disciples meet with Jesus at the waters edge, and share fish roasted over coals with him.
This is a popular spot for people to gather and enjoy swimming in the river. It is a short walk from town, but the scrub woodland and ruined Abbey provide a boundary to create a sanctuary of wild space hidden right next to the A75. Easter was early enough in the year for us to be sharing the beach with only one other group though – and dog walkers.
Those who came brought food with them as well. We shared the fire and enjoyed discovering what everyone had brought. As we sat and cooked we took it in turns to tell sections of the story of Easter. Starting in the upper room where Jesus gathered with his disciples to break bread and drink wine. The stories were interlaced with reflections and songs. The story wove its way through time until we met it again in a shared experience of sitting by water and enjoying the sharing of food and drink in the presence of Jesus.
As a mark of the day some people chose to cast a cross in a simple soapstone mould. In itself melting the metal, purifying it with fire and then watching it take the shape prepares for it, can be a symbolic and heartfelt action. The cross which is cast then needs cleaning and can be carried as a reminder and connection to the experience throughout the year.
This month at forest church we engaged in a wee bit of displaying arboreal affection (DofAA) and made some lanterns. The framework for us meeting to work together to worship can be read here, so I won’t repeat it.
Instead, here are a few of the photos and insights from our experience.
As we have been meeting in the same location for a year, we have become quite familiar with the area. This Sunday we took some time to centre ourselves and then focus on which ever particular tree we were drawn to. It is very refreshing to take some time out to reflect at a speed approaching the speed of trees.
I was struck by the amount of life held in the moss on the bark of the tree I spent time with. A rolling stone gathers no moss, but this tree was a haven for frail small fungi even when it had drawn back into its trunk and shed its leaves.
We also wandered down past the Sunflower field. Whilst most of the sunflowers have died back and are becoming mulch, there are still a few blooms and splashes of colour. I wonder how many flowers there will be next year?
As the sun began to set we used a craft activity to respond to our experiences. Taking used tin cans we experimented with the material to contemplate the boundaries between light and dark. As the gashes we made in the thin fabric of the container were opened, they became doorways through which light could shine. The lanterns shelter the flame inside from an outside where it could easily be extinguished by the hostile environment. Plenty of food for thought! We also shared each others company and a drink to keep us warm.
And then it was time to wander out into the rest of the week, carrying the light within us.
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.
As the culmination of our Lent journey we invite you to join us to cook fish by the water, and meet the risen Christ.
This is the start of a journey as well as the end of one. We have chosen this place to meet partly because of the connection some of the group have with Lincluden Abbey, and also out of sensitivity to the preservation of information buried in the soil. This means that we are meeting on the other side of the river where our fire will not disturb the scheduled monument.
To what extent did the disciples know what to expect when they left those times they met Jesus on a beach and ate fish with him? They would have many memories to fall back one – several of which involved eating bread and fish! But also the filling of their hunger for #SensingSpirituality . They had seen the dead raised back to life, blind people able to see, and also the quickening of downtrodden women and slaves in ways which humbled the authorities (and scared them) .
They had walked through towns and villages doing these things. Feeling the good news flow through their fingers.
When we meet we remember the history of what has happened. Reenact the events to re-member abstract thought in physical experience – both smokey taste and spiritual reality. We also have the opportunity to prepare for and dream up our path for the coming year.
All are welcome!
17th April – Easter Sunday BBQ – meet outside St Johns at 2pm to walk along the riverside to a beach opposite Lincluden Abbey – or 2.45 meet at the Nunholm car park. (Bring things to BBQ) We will have fire.
As Quartz Forest Church we are spending a year exploring the Chrichton Estate in Dumfries. For many of us, even though we live in Dumfries, the grounds around the university are not a familiar place.
We started in autumn, and are seeing signs of spring now. We have also been meeting some of the other people who inhabit this space. Some are ‘residents’ like the veterans garden, others passing through and walking their dogs.
An important theme in forest church is getting to know the natural environment. Which is why this trail in particular looks interesting.
I bind unto myself today the hardy resilience of Scots in storm swept straths.
We started by sharing the peace of Christ outside the Crichton chapel as usual. Then, as the flooding river was topmost in our minds we followed it down to watch the tide.
A sculpture returned to the earthFoliage sculpted in stoneThe Nith at the Shoogly BridgeWatching the wind
We also read two sections from St Patricks breastplate, but in a new arrangement which brought new insights.
I bind unto myself today
I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlitheaven
The power of God to hold and lead
The glorious suns life giving ray
His eye to watch his might to stay
The whiteness of the moon at even
His ear to hearken to my need
The flashing of the lightning free
The wisdom of my God to teach
The whirling tempestuous shocks
His hand to guide his shield to ward
The stable solid earth, the deep salt sea
The word of God to give me speech
Around the old eternal rocks.
His heavenly host to be my guard
And by then the flooding had gone down and there was blue sky. We said the Grace together and went on, having harvested the raw material of reality to smith new spiritual mantles.
We will meet at 2pm outside the Crichton chapel as usual. Please keep an especial eye out for the weather forecast as there could be snow in D&G this weekend. Dress for the weather, and even if the snowdrops are hiding under the cailleachs cloak you will be comfortable enough to find them. As usual we will adjust our practice in relationship with our surroundings.
Meeting in Christ’s name and sharing the peace
We meet in Christs name – whether you consider yourself close friends, or are just curious, all are welcome – we share his peace.
Something to set our minds
The Deers Cry, or St Patricks breastplate.
We will read or sing some of this – more details will be posted when I work out how. Please get in touch if you have suggestions. (and look at the text in the featured image on this page).
Reading the book
But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.
When we start to think about experiencing the thing, we stop experiencing the thing.
When we remember an experience, we re-experience the experience.
Spring in Scotland strobes between winter and summer. One year we will be enjoying a BBQ on the beach by the Nith on Easter Sunday and the next the streets are swept clear by driving snow. There is a permanence to living things as well though. There is a danger that the above passage leads to dualistic thinking that separates the physical, temporal or secular from the spiritual, eternal and timeless.
The poetry in St Patricks breastplate defends against this. In this prayer armour for living is woven from the eternal substance of the things we experience in, combination with the eternal truths expressed through creeds. We will take some time to become aware of the eternal qualities of that which is around us. The “Solidness of Earth”, “The Suns life giving ray”, or perhaps the bravery of snowdrops and whatever we can find through exploring.
Then we can use these experiences to weave a cloak of protection from the landscape around us. Are you facing a difficult time at work? Wear the helmet of salvation, and also draw the wildness of wind around you under your coat to carry you with confidence. Are you worried about your security? Snowdrops dare the harshness of the last gasp of winter, fragile but returning each year, and the ground we stand on is solid. Perhaps you can practice binding these things to yourself, and yourself to the eternal.
Closing Prayer
If you are able, find a physical thing which represents the eternal quality you want to draw on in your daily life. We can then place these things on the ground together, letting go of the temporary but holding onto to the eternal. “I bind unto myself today the … of …”
There was a wind blowing through the Crichton today. The fallen leaves were rustling, dried by a sunny day and drifting around the contours of the grass.
Our attention was drawn to a dandelion, a last bloom of yellow on the green looking up at the yellow on the blue. There was a rhododendron in bloom as well. We explored the sounds, sights, smells, and textures of the area. With the taste of winter in the wind.
The whole area was buzzing with life, with several events taking place over the weekend. Dog walkers, concert goers and children playing in the leaves. I wondered what patterns are there waiting to be discovered, and what ones do we make ourselves. Or is the process of making a visible pattern an act of recognising, becoming aware of, an unseen reality which reveals and forms itself in and through the process of becoming? Like leaves settling on a landscape in the wind, held by the contours of earth and air pressure.
Sometimes instinct draws us to run through the pile of leaves and enjoy the sensation as they scatter. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of something which leads us to wonder about a deeper meaning. It could be patterns in leaves, or texture in bark, or the particular light cast by a winter sun illuminating that particular moment.
Today we made it to the central cafe before it closed. It too was bustling and as we sat and folded paper angels we continued to chat on the veranda watching the sun set behind a one tonne willow bull. This is Kelton the belted galloway, a woven sculpture wandering around Dumfries and Galloway.
Another work of art has found its resting place at the Crichton. This is a life Totem which has travelled over the sea for COP26. It has become a focus for meaning, discussions and hopefully inspired insight on how to respond to climate change. It is now returning to the earth. This is a planned letting go of the artwork. The material will decompose and return to the soil it came from. This contrasts with the ways in which cultures that obsess with preserving works of art can loose the spiritual significance of it.
Those for whom power is found in this world, fight to retain it. Jesus however has confidence that all who belong to the truth will listen to his voice. Can you hear it in the wind?
The next Quartz Forest Church will be on Sunday December the 19th.
