a blog by howard jameson @ gatheringgrace.org

The Bride of Christ

Its far too infrequent for me to be involved in anything of an Alternative Worship flavour (by which I mean something with lots of space and opportunity to be reflective, creative and responsive), and it is even less frequent for me to be in this environment when somebody else has done the heavy lifting, as it were.

Was knocked out by this evening prepared by F. Really lovely, well done.

We started with some singing and a reading from Revelation 19, and I spoke a little on the imagery from Isaiah, Hosea and Revelation, but as short as I could make it just to set the scene...

Download the_bride_of_christ.pdf

...then we were left to our own devices to work round some stations (pdfs above).

We finished with a Prayer Guard of Honour, walking between rows of people praying for us, then joining on the end so everybody prayed and was prayed for.

Wednesday in Holy Week

A good day today with three classes of children coming through Church this morning for a Holy Week "experience". They took to it really well and it was a beautiful thing to see.

And then this evening we used the same basic stations, but with (and here I was about to type adult themes) thoughts and prayers suitable for an older worshipper, a pdf is here if you can find a use for it.Download wednesday_in_holy_week_2008.pdf

Looking round

I have enjoyed the opportunity for two Sundays to worship somewhere else and take a peek at what others are up to. Bizarrely this seems to be something which Clergy only consider doing in August, which is probably the worst possible month to do it as everybody is away.

Spent a day at New Wine. I know this might not seem very trendy in the blogosphere, but I got a lot out of the day. Firstly I found them very hospitable and not at all pushy, especially as being a Church leader I was allowed access to the Leader's Lounge (a bit like the British Airways First Class Lounge, but without the champagne...and a few other things). The two seminars I went to were stimulating (even if they were lectures rather than seminars). Okay, it wasn't perfect for my taste. The evening talk on the day we were there was being done by Baroness Cox who was fantastic. Her stories of my brothers and sisters in Christ who were suffering around the world broke my heart...so I didn't need a huge amount of encouraging from the front to express that. However when I experience deep emotions I prefer silence and stillness and I don't think this option was encouraged from the front; but for me verbalising my aching soul was not going to make my soul ache any more. Sorry.

Last Sunday was a visit to an old favourite place of ours, and we love being made to feel so welcome there. A "run of the mill" Family Service with Communion for the Summer holidays. A tricky call as so many might be away.

Today was a trip closer to home to be part of an informal act of worship (although everybody was on holiday and I was expecting to have to lock up afterwards - seriously I would have taken my guitar if I'd known).

Next week is Greenbelt. Sadly I am not expecting to go there and witness a style of worship that I can easily transplant to here, but I am going for me and to catch up with any old friends. Funnily enough we spent a day with a way old friend this last week with whom I would attend Greenbelt in the early 80s. Now if I could persuade him to come along it might be just like old times (except for the loos, that is).

I think I need to let this stuff gestate in me head for a while before I draw any firm conclusions or ideas.

The mystery of the Bishop, the fire alarm and the chinese meal

We had a bit of a trip out this week to hear a concert by Reuben Morgan.

First of all (in this complicated story) I need to declare an interest, as it were. I am a natural cynic, and after training in theology and leading worship in a variety of styles it becomes harder to switch off the cynicism. Having said that, with one or two very minor (and excusable) moments this cynicism did not prevent me from really enjoying the evening (was it worship? was it a concert? who cares! my hands were in the air and I sang along). I think I have a slight advantage over some of my post-Modern friends in that I have never really been part of a charismatic Church; rather its been a case of 70s renewal (Sounds of Living Waters - remember that book?), then inadvertently into more conservative evangelical (although I was not really aware of it at the time), then rural, then curacy, then here; so I don't have memory of excesses or the things which switch people off that style of worship very quickly.

Okay, since I mentioned one or two moments let me get those out of the way too. I struggle with the phrase "I don't normally..." as a preface to some word or picture. To me it is superfluous - does the Holy Spirit need to be upgraded for this special word? The other thing which (bless him) got me was the old chap dancing in the aisle. Good on you mate (and I wish more would) but Grandads only dance in one style and its not that pretty. Right, I think that's said and done and I can move on.

Worship as art not propaganda

h.t. to Jordon for this, but I found this video clip from Brian McLaren really powerful.

Advent Labyrinth (again)

Love doing this sort of thing, but very time consuming to set up solo!

I would recommend anybody trying it. If you want to make a labyrinth then there is my category about making one. I made this and it is a portable one (all fits into a medium stacker box) but, as I discovered here, it is not ideal for use on a wood and/or tiled floor. I need to come up with something different if I do this again in Winsley.

This pdf file

Download advent_labyrinth_text_2006.PDF

contains all the stations texts and stuff plus some side stations for people to engage with whilst they wait their turn.

Advent Labyrinth

Advent Labyrinth.

Wednesday 6th December 7:45pm in St Nicholas Winsley (with music and images)

Daylight hours on Thursday if you want to be quiet

waiting and longing

Gentle Alt. Worship for Holy Week (part ii)

Somebody has dropped round a small box with some bits that I might add to the things I posted earlier.

Some small red glass stones, which I think will look good when I put the red stole across the table to look like droplets of blood. Also in the box are some dice (not sure if I'll use them this time) and thirty pieces of silver (old coins actually). I might be able to add the coins, as (despite today's news stories to the contrary) Judas is not the only villain of the piece, surely he is an Everyman figure as well. I doubt many of us would have acted differently.

It does remind me of a Good Friday thing I did once, part of which was arranging items around the Church and Churchyard. We laid some silver coins splashed across a grass bank for the betrayal bit, only to start the service and have some ramblers walk in saying they had found some money in the Churchyard.

Gentle Alt. Worship for Holy Week

Arriving somewhere new does give some opportunity for having another shot at things tried before. I am leading a gentle creative act of worship for Monday evening in Holy week, and have been able to dig up something I did three years ago which (hopefully) provides space for lots of the stuff in Alt. Worship we like, but done gently enough for people who haven't tried it before.

Its not rocket science...

Lots of moving feedback from this morning's service for Advent Sunday. Nothing emerging or alternative, I'm afraid, just a fairly standard Parish Communion but with the offer of anointing as we thought about penitence and hope of Christ coming again into situations and the vicious circles of life. A few tears as well, but beautiful to lead.