It was a busy day, with three of us working all the time. Since it was so busy, there have been less words written to describe it!
– no rain so we were able to put up the bunting and have the tent fully open with the chairs out. The Haikus were a bit more random, and the syllable rule was not always followed, Nonetheless we had some good conversations.
A highlight of the day was when a person picked up the postcard of part of the Dream of the Rood and I said that this was the poem on the Ruthwell cross. Her eyes lit up and she said she had been christened at the church there! It was a bit spine-tingling for both of us. The labyrinth also provided some people with time and space to reflect, it is a very accessible activity and they were able to use it on their lap whilst sitting on a chair.
Quartz has been using Haiku this weekend as part of the Wordsmith Crafts CiC setup at Kirkcudbright Art and Crafts trail.
The following is taken from notes written by Kate, who has been leading this activity.
A selection of Haiku
We have been giving people a space to stop. The whole of Kirkcudbright becomes a walking trail and on Friday we had a couple of chairs to rest in which were appreciated.
I have experienced people being surprised by what they have achieved, that they have come up with such a profound haiku. One lady took ages, told me lots about her life and the struggles she faced. She was in tears when she finished her poem, and it was a lovely poem for her sons.
Another experience I have enjoyed was asking children if they know what haiku were and wathcing their parents being really impressed that their child knows all about them.
We have a bowl full of words on cardboard strips. Having words provided means that people encountered words they weren’t expecting. One lady was ambushed by the word forgiveness- we had a brief conversation about it but I suspect more thinking and heart-searching happened after she left.
In addition, giving people the opportunity to write their own words allowed one girl to ignore all the rules and simply state “My name is Bee”. One man wrote a lovely poem about someone special in his life. Young twins who hadn’t learned to read yet enjoyed picking up words they liked the look of, and then the adults watching re-ordered them, #SensingMeaningfulness.
Saturday was wet and windy to start so there were no haiku for the first few hours, but some lovely ones arrived with the sunshine later on. It was great to see parents and children working together – parents were happy to help without taking over or changing things that they thought weren’t quite right.
During the morning haiku hiatus, the finger labyrinth we also have on the table, being made of glazed pottery and therefore much more waterproof, came into it’s own. Some had seen one before, but many learned to use one for the first time. I had a great half-conversation with a lady who was trying to get her son to do it as he had had a difficult day and she thought it would help him.
Not everyone felt able to stop for long, but we had many brief conversations about laying burdens down safely and picking them up in a different mindset. I felt able to say that I speak to Jesus in the middle.
The labyrinth of chairs we set up in St Johns, linking activity inside the building with activities like this in the wider community.
More to follow! Sunday and Monday still to go.
As well as the Quartz area Wordsmith Crafts has a workshop where people can become 5 or 10 minute apprentices and learn to make copper armbands. This is a hands on encounter with millennia old skills. Conversations about value, time, and our relationships with the people who have contributed to making the Scotland we know today.
There is also a shop area where artists associated with WSC can exhibit and sell their work. This helps support the artists, and fund the installation at the trail – any surplus will be directed to helping people access the full resources of their Heritage through other projects.
Just some Iron Age folk discussing heritage, in between customers.
A Quartz Outerweave at Kirkcudbright Art and Crafts Trail
Thought becomes a woven banner.
We will be #SensingSpirituality in Kirkcudbright during the last weekend of July 2022. The trail is open from 11am to 5pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. You can find more info here
We were last there in 2017, and are looking forward to returning. This year we will have three main activities to help people use art and crafts to become aware of, explore and express the invisible things which make humans more than just their physical elements.
The theme for the trail this year is “Cats” in memory of one of the trails founders. We have taken this and then approached it through a poem called “Pangur Ban” The poem compares a monks search for meanings in texts to the quest of his pet cat trying to catch mice.
Either writing freestyle, or by arranging from a selection of words people will be encouraged to reflect on their environment and make an observation. Traditionally this type of poetry is 17 syllables in a 5,7,5 pattern. The poems will be fleeting glimpses of meaningfulness, but they can be photographed and then tagged #SensingSpirituality to be found online as long as the internet lasts…
Weaving
Continuing our practice of collaborative artwork, individuals can record their reflections on ribbons of cloth or paper. These are then woven into a tapestry using a warp weighted loom. Fragments of thoughts will be visible in the final banner, but each is anonymous as part of the whole.
The Cats mirror
Interested?
Come along and see for yourself what we are up to! Quartz takes the challenge of leaving our spiritual comfort zone to find “The face of God in friend and stranger” seriously. We will be setting up in Kirkcudbright to learn as well as help. We contribute from our own traditions and the experience of walking the paths we have made, and we hope to receive from the discussions this inspires. If you would like to get involved in helping do this, then talk with us and we can work out how to help each other.
Studio and Cluaran
Hair clasp by Kirsten Milliken
As well as the Quartz project being on display, we are inviting people to glimpse a travelling version of the Wordsmith Crafts Studio . We will have a workshop set up where we will be experimenting with Iron Age crafts. Making rings and broaches. Some of these will be replicas, some “in the style of” and some will be contemporary creations.
Iron age fibula broaches
We run 10 and 20 minute craft workshops. In these people can drop in and make something, and then take it away with them. We provide the skills and learning for free, but anything made in the workshop has a value and a trade needs to be made in order to take things away!
We will also have a shop front where the artists involved with Wordsmith Crafts can exhibit and sell their work.
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.
Alison will be leading our CLC meeting on Monday the 15th of November at 7.30
She will use the text from 1 Samuel 1: 4-20 as a focus and we will have paper and pens etc. to respond as we listen to some music.
She also suggests that the canticle for Sunday from 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 might be inspirational.
Just a reminder that this is not homework!
Come as you are and enjoy this time with others. Your response could also be simply to take the opportunity to share your prayer experiences (moments of #SensingSpirituality) from throughout the week with like minded people.
The general format for the evening will be roughly
Prayer Reading – 1 Samuel 1: 4-20 Response – an invitation to draw your word or letter Small sharing group time
It has often been said that people have a God shaped hole they need to fill. The Gospel is then presented as good news, that the hole can be filled.
It is, of course, true that like the father in the story of the prodigal son, God rushes from the house to meet us in our need. Jesus became low in order to lift us up, and we should call on our saviour in times of need.
However, what if you are one of the people who experiences God in the sparkling of light on the water? Or for whom the joy of tasting brambles and of just “living life” is a constant reminder of the presence of God. Perhaps then the Gospel for you is not characterised by the filling of an absence.
When you read in the Gospel of John that “…But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, …” this can the recognition of an overflowing of abundance found within the core of your being. A natural inclination to praise God that finds it’s shape in the unfolding story of Christianity.
What if the feelings of disatisfaction many experience within their christian life could be described as a hunger to expand their awareness. Just as children experience an urge to grow beyond the familiar safe space that those who care for them create, if we are filled with potential by God then this will drive us to seek more of God in the unfamiliar.
Rather than wondering why the “God shaped hole” isn’t filled no matter how much you give up or deny yourself, perhaps it is time to rest and remember the confidence God has in you and in who you are becoming. Trust that the yoke is easy and burden light.
Take time to remember how the sunlight sparkles on water, gather brambles that grow wild in hedgerows, and discover new ways of joining with creation to praise God for the things that make your heart sing.
And for those who like reading theology:
John Reuben Davies, “Human being and the praise of God” ch2 in “Made in the Image of God” Ed. Michael Fuller & David JasperSacristy press 2021www.sacristy.co.uk
In science fiction the reader is often given a glimpse of present reality from an imagined future perspective.
The first panel in this story reminded my both of the optimism of the atomic era, and the growing recognition that something was wrong with the way we were using oil.
It was an era of Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) presented as a cost effective way to secure peace. The young generation enjoyed the benefits of a reasonable economy, and boomed beyond their borders in supersonic aircraft. The bust of AIDS, famine, and the global cost of this frenzied activity by a small minority of it’s population was yet to hit.
If you could go back in time and change one thing in order to save the world of today, what would it be?
