LENT Photo #20 'Blind' Gurrumul

  

   'Geoffrey' Gurrumul Yunupingu played stellar guitar for 'Yothu Yindi' and is still an enthusiastic member of 'The Saltwater Band' who skyrocketed on the release of his first solo album... as his website puts it...

"Born blind, Gurrumul grew up as a member of the Gumatj clan on Elcho Island, off the coast of tropical North East Arnhemland. His fragile but powerfully emotive voice has affected the public in a way no other artist has done in this country.  This unique Aboriginal man sings songs about identity, spirit and connection with the land, its elements and the ancestral beings he is related to. His high tenor voice and aura-like persona creates emotion, compassion and a feeling of peacefulness and longing with audiences in Australia and around the world.

In today’s world where the media and the music industries are based around hype, fashion and disposable artists, Gurrumul has emerged as unique celebrity, who will ‘change the way you breathe’ (Brisbane Courier Mail, 2008) and change the way people listen to and experience his Yolngu cultural world through an accessible Western music style."

   He is a unique character, known for avoiding media hype and being picky about projects... there's a great story about him not really getting why everyone was excited to see he might collaborate on a duet with 'Sting'. He just didn't want to do it, including the irony of "Every Breath You Take" and it's line 'I'll be watching you' which just annoyed him... until at the last moment he agreed to go ahead. No disrespect to Sting, he's just his own man... but you can check it out here

   Gurrumul doesn't wear sunnies all the time, he's not self conscious about his eyes... he just loves his music and sharing his story through song and is just as excited to join his band as ply his own trade!!

   This week we read the story of a blind man, the subject of a miracle... through the ordinary elements of mud and spit... but we are also reminded, this man was not born blind because of anything he or his parents have done...

   Instead he becomes a voice from the edges, an unexpected teller of good news... urging us to grasp the unexplainable truth of God breaking into life and calling us to live differently...

   It follows the late night question from Nicodemus, the midday sun wrestle with the un-named woman from Samaria at Jacob's Well... something is going on here...

LENT Photo #19 "World"

   Wow!! I have some liquid chalk pens!! For smaller groups or as one 'station' in the space a lenten or Easter Prayers of the People for the World could be a tactile drawing and writing on the globe in the places needing reconciliation and renewal, the object of God's mission in the world... at least that's what I thought when I saw this globe on the interwebthingy!!

What thoughts did this globe touch off as I saw it?
   In most contexts I'm engaging with people in ministry and mission in recent times the dominant way people have come to think about the Church, the Christian faith and it's central message seems to be aligned with the short horizon of their own experience [or the gospel as they have received or experienced it] as if that's where the emphasis of discipleship has always been...
   One simple example would be 'the altar call' originating in the 1800s which is admittedly an attempt to symbolise a response through action... however it's early popularisation was always about a corporate call TO something, not just OUT OF something. But that's not even the main game...

   The globe reminds me that Jesus talked most about 'the Kingdom of God' and the invitation to participate. The invitation came from surprising people and places [the wrong ones according to some]. It begs the question, what do you do when you find the gifts and grace of God where they are not supposed to be?
   The culture of the churches I mostly connect with is very verbal [and don't worry I could talk all day if required and miss all cues to stop] but faith sharing is so often seen as 'telling' and there's not enough being, with an outward focus on being the people of God engaged in the community... The 'telling' is too often answering questions nobody is asking or there are few opportunities where the conversation is with anyone beyond the existing congregation.
   So this symbol too, of the globe, would be the richer for the ability to be able to write names, projects and issues on it that people were directly engaged with [alongside those earnestly prayed for] as a sign of reconciliation and renewal actually being contributed to alongside God's activity.

Other challenges:
- Young people make meaning and shape faith our of their context and culture, not decades ago
- The challenges of modern science can inform faith not just challenge it
- The main thing is still the main thing
- Just getting the facts of the story right will not create discipleship
- All ministry is built on relationships but not manipulation

That'll do for now... a list of ten would be easy!!
WE make the road by walking...

 
 

Lent PHOTO #18 "Welcome"

   The Wayside Chapel is one of a number of places we sent groups of young people from our UCA Synod Youth Unit Summer/Winter Camps in the middle day to 'ground' our theme, input, group work and discipleship in unique experiences of life beyond their own stories. Other places included Redfern, Glebe and into the City to observe people & places but also to talk with a 'Big Issue' seller and hear their story. As we went along it involved serving, cleaning up and getting involved... not just listening!! It became a great way to make the values of God very real and broke down significant barriers to people sharing themselves...
   The Wayside was an outstanding part of this and I have thought often about how to connect there in an ongoing way... Graham Long invited me to make a contribution to Sunday Worship there just in the final months of the Youth Unit and I still think about taking that up from Newcastle from time to time!! I also wish we had a group coherent enough to invite similar experiences in fleshing out a lot of stuff that gets talked about along the way...
   In relation to Lent I remain impressed and inspired by Waysides work, ministry and sense of community... Lots of people from the famous to the committed community builders around that area give time and gifts because they see all the good stuff that happens there...
   Having also met, interviewed and been inspired by Matt Noffs, I am aware of the painful history of Ted's pioneering efforts and the way those efforts continue to motivate his grandsons as they seek a fairtrade, inclusive an just world and foster things like the amazing: Gideon Shoes; and the 'Street University.'
   Welcome is a huge part of creating and building community and welcome is what all the people from the fringes were whose stories we are reading week by week this Lent.

Lent PHOTO #17 "Vivid"

   For a variety of reasons, worship has been on my mind this last two weeks... it's been a busy time... but alongside thinking about what will reflect an intersection between God and the culture of those gathered in a number of different settings it's reminded me of those things I value, find engaging, make meaning through and/or don't mind being challenged by and so in no particular order:

- something that allows me/others to respond to God
- art and creativity with tactile visual things
- activity that is changed and reflects your engagement with it
- shared stories
- music live and/or recorded without necessarily needing to sing along
- a question I can think, pray, talk about or just reflect on
- people sharing about things that matter to them
- celebration of ways those present have engaged in God's mission in the world
- Exploring Scripture as a central thread and unique, prophetic & apostolic
- Recognising Jesus as the living word of God who fuels our 'following'
- Newspapers, photos, video, storybooks, 'stations', collaboration as standard tools
- breaking out into community spaces, not just 'the church'
- including surprises
- participation by as many people as possible in leadership

   Curating experiences for older groups, conservative groups and/or those resistant to change means [alongside committing to include something that stretches people] I have grown to appreciate fragments of the above wherever I find them. In movies, listening to music, at the museum, through street art, lost in my own thoughts etc etc... It needs to be 'vivid' with space to be experienced and not compromised...

It's a bit like the experience of watching an old black and white TV in my youth. You had to fill in the colours in your imagination and as I think back I can still recall significant cultural and sporting moments on an old valve driven TV... but somehow able to find meaning and add my own colour...

LENT Photo #16 Rebirth

   Earlier this week I went for a short drive to Catherine Hill Bay [photo of the Jetty coming soon] and I stopped at several spots to take photos of how the bush was recovering and being rebirth-ed after the horrendous bush fires from summer!! Some of the plateau still looks like a moonscape but alongside the road there are images like this of burnt out trees and thriving healthy gum trees and undergrowth alongside...
   I was reflecting on the randomness of life, it's challenges and how in community we live this way sometimes. People experience pain, loneliness, hurt and growth, beauty or love right alongside each other. Sometimes it's less obvious, sometimes you see it in people hunched over, looking tired and drawn or just plain happy and laughing with friends.
   Rebirth, being made new, is not at it's best individually, it should be shared and should remind us our freedom is tied up with others. Our life's experience is lived in community and the message of wholeness, of abundant life, of saving is not a selfish thing, maybe it's the best of things when shared.
   It comes from really listening to how others seek to live, being grace, compassion and care for them... sharing stories, sharing who or what gives us hope and tagging them along...
They might be a learned person filled with questions, a friend suffering illness or injury, a woman shunned by those in her community who needs to be included, not judged... this is the nature of a world lived according to God's values. A place acknowledging that life sometimes and often sucks, but that we travel it together... if you were of a mind to 'follow' Jesus, this is what that would be about... personal learning, saving, meshed with life giving opportunities held in our own hands or that we see and are drawn into, whether we see it or not... looking back to wonder at how that person came into our path... asylum seekers sharing their story, Pam from across the street, a young person whose car was totalled in the wet weather, an old bloke looking for a chat, a person leading for the first time, someone vulnerable enough to share their thoughts or story, the mystery of pain and illness awaiting diagnosis or treatment, people tired from day to day living... and that was just this week!!
   According to the story, sometimes God is in 'the still small voice' or our actions of being like 'salt' or 'light' in our community... the focus being on others, or something like that anyway!!

LENT Photo # 15 'Stories'

   Contemporary indigenous identity is expressed beyond Australia's north and a cohort of well know sports stars but certainly includes that rich mix of culture and engagement!! It's a reminder that Redfern, Malabar, La Perouse and beyond are still communities of vibrant culture and living. Every one has a story and every person's story is worth hearing. That's true whether you're a woman in Samaria who ventures to Jacob's well in the midday sun or spend your time in community facilities around Redfern, boxing at the PCYC or attending a Conference or the Markets in the Technology Park and Sheds.
   Stories cross cultural barriers, create community, define identity and determine our reality... how we seek and find connection with the ever present God is part of our story too...

LENT Photo #14 'Gathering'

   This is the painting that hangs in our entranceway at home and is an aboriginal artwork on canvass stretched over a frame. I bought it in Adelaide in 2005 at our UCA national youth event on the last morning for a few hundred dollars as a gift... I was grateful to the Community Worker for the Northern Synod contingent who sought me out on the balcony soon after the purchase, to thank me that whilst I had collected a bargain, he wanted me to know that by buying one of the three canvasses hanging up unframed, I had provided the petrol money for a group to head back home...
   The artwork is about women gathering bush tucker food for the group gathering... you can make out the ants and the witchetty grubs in the green X shaped pathways, the white snakes and the U shaped figures are the gatherers. It's a wonderful rich story of role, tradition and community life.

"Handyman Blues" Billy Bragg live on Q&A

I now have two theme songs for what I'm not in life...
"Handyman Blues Billy Bragg
and
"Outdoor Type" The Lemonheads

LENT Photo #13 'Ordinary Love'

     Humanity seems built for relationships yet we also seem to have a propensity to stuff them up... selfishness, disregard, power, need, apathy and so on personally and globally...
   Into this comes a message of 'ordinary love' of the common good... a message about following values that lead to abundant life that's not at the expense of others... or is it?
   

More on 'A Destiny Together'

"Anthem" by TIDDAS with still pic and audio

Friends, colleagues, peers and punters gathered today in Canberra as part of the week of prayer & fasting for "A Destiny Together" as a commitment from first and second peoples to a better future together in Australia.
In reflecting on this I share one of my fav. songs... it's beautiful harmonies help the hard words sneak up on you from the perspective of a people who have suffered much at the hands of second and subsequent peoples arriving here in Australia.

LENT Photo #12 Aboriginal Portrait Mural

   So how long has this mural been on the end of this Wickham building? It wasn't there 12 months ago and after that I'm not sure... I'm sure it relates to the area and maybe specifically to the Mulubinba Co=Op or the Awabakal presence in the area including the nearby Daycare Centre... stunning artwork at the end of Bishopgate St facing the beginning of Wharf Rd. I saw it today just as I was passing by and thinking about the UCA week "A Destiny Together" and what I was going to read this week...

POSTSCRIPT
Painted by Melbourne street artist Adnate as part of the "Hit Bricks" Festival 2013
Thanks Newcastle Street Art Facebook!!

   I'm early with this blog post as the Uniting Church enters a week of prayer and fasting connected with "A Destiny Together" and a Gathering tomorrow Tuesday on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra!!
   It's about recognising indigenous culture and issues and that our futures are intertwined... It's about 'standing with' and seeking to understand each other and participating in a better future beyond the negative aspects of the Federal Government's intervention in northern Australia, beyond 'the gap' in health and education, beyond the idea that genuine aboriginal people are all in the north... There are a few things this is connected to and are a continuation of...





There will be more to follow on this week!!

LENT Photo #11 'Broken'

   It makes us who we are, our story, our lives, our interactions and how we build resilience and know that there's another world possible which we are invited to participate in building!! It's our ownership of the fact that despite the pursuit for happy-ness, we are mostly all broken in some way... because life is hard and we struggle!!

   The invitation 'to follow' Jesus is an invitation to life, not in trite terms of 'have I got a deal for you' or solely concerned with life beyond death but 'life in all it's fullness' which I was reminded today includes the ups and downs... so being broken it seems to me gives rise to wounded healers, is the space for ministry and offers us hope of another way!!

LENT Photo #10 'Bread'

   A Sunday morning sourdough toast is one of life's simple joys... the crunchy crust and fresh centre soak up butter and go well with jams or vegemite but it's also best enjoyed in company!! For me it's a symbol of life, hospitality and artisan creativity... sourdough is not easy to make, but the results are stunning!!
   'Bread' is Peter Reinhart's specialty and his TED Talk is a stunning encapsulation of the processes and organic change that takes place, expressed with passion here
   LENT is traditionally about 'giving up' where that creates opportunity for focus on God... people should choose that if it's helpful BUT I do prefer to think about FOCUS, whether on plenty or not much... I'd rather use time to connect with people, to share meals, to enjoy simple conversation and listening!! It's about breaking bread!!

LENT Photo #09 'Water'

   Officially opened in 1966, Mayfield Pool didn't have 500 kids there today for a Schools Fun Day as Wallsend did... lucky for me!! I like it's connections with the BHP Steelworks, the proximity of the dressing sheds, the hot shower and that there are always a small number of local characters there when you go!! Give a knowing nod and make your way to your lane and you are set for [in today's case] your 22 laps or so with only a few mums and toddlers and two old blokes around!! We have just come out of the 3-4 week Carnival Season with hundreds of kids each day...
   The pool must have had diving boards at the blocks end as I couldn't reach the bottom if I tried... the second half of the pool is 1m+ 'deep' so your lap gets easier going that way. It's good at this time of year as in the cooler weather there's no journey down the steps into the 23-25 degree water waiting to dive in and warm up... you just drop in at the deep end!! I'll be transferring to the Uni indoors in a couple of weeks!!
   I include it today because at this time of year such swims are 'just magic'... the sun is still out but it's that filtered autumn sunlight in a breeze. It means that when you stop doing laps the water is just refreshing and I for one can add a few laps and feel like I don't want to get out... I love that you are working hard and end up not in sweaty sports clothes but having a shower, even changing to todays clean clothes and wandering out to the car, ready to go... it usually means I'm ready for a nap by 3pm but not everyday!!
   'Water', the stuff of life, reviving, resistant, available in the developing world only through 'wells', like Jacob's Well... a place of questions and conversation, a place of honesty!!

LENT Photo #08 'Walk'

   This is one of series of images from a 'Stations' of the Cross or Easter focused public art installation. It was the inspiration for the Easter Walk I put together last year for Good Friday in Scone. I have since often thought about building stand alone timber frames with heavyish bases that could be placed around the city of Newcastle [probably with Council permission but asking them to keep quiet about it, or not asking]
   In that project they'd need to be things I never needed back and it would be a bonus if things did remain... maybe 2015? Anyhow, this seems to me a creative, communal, positive and engaging way to share the story and it could also be done via shop windows where you 'bomb' the area with map guides and liturgy but have permission for the installations... small country towns would do well with this and even a deserted street on a Good FRiday Public holiday might work as a 'walk' for the faithful... all I know is that without the most remarkable Easter Camp experiences now I and many others lack something in our restorative and challenging spirit as to how to gain fuel for our journey.
   For me the gospel is a simple affair that God is love and knows 'everyone has a story and every story is worth hearing'... the task of disciple makers is by far and away to invite others on that journey of following so that anything in our lives which is not fuelled by and connected to that relationship with Christ has the potential to be shaped, corrected, informed and challenged. Using a 'bullhorn' is just as ineffective as ignoring issues or allowing people to interpret their faith through an individualistic lens... It really is about the journey... the WALK

LENT Photo #07 Giving

   It was 32 degrees celsius, a little humid and a team had come together for a day with families who connected at Ermington in Sydney. UnitingCare, Uniting Conference Centres and the Uniting Church NSW/ACT Syond Youth Unit collaborated to make it happen.
   There were games, swimming, crafts, video, lunch and flying fox... this is where it got interesting as a small number of less able kids had come along. One stunningly generous Youth Worker and members of his voluntary team wheeled, carried and lifted kids so they too could enjoy the adventure!! There was no thought of self, just giving!! It still stands as one of my highlight ventures from 12 years at the Youth Unit!!

Dulux Let's Colour 'Prohibition'

A metaphor for so many things...

LENT Photo #06 'Confession'

   Confession/Lament/Hope all tied up in one action of writing on some gum leaves and leaving them on the cloth. Frustratingly, "Bad" U2 covered by Luka Bloom didn't play on the Mac... it did in testing!!
 

LENT Photo #05 Journey, what following is...

   The Labyrinth has been around for a long time, but many people have discovered it's contemporary shape, including stations with different tactile mediums, for 'stops on the way' journeying to the middle and out again... in Lent it might be a sparse experience or a way to re-centre or an opportunity to stop in the same way I enjoy lap swimming. Although huffing and blowing it's still possible to stay with your own thoughts and process stuff up and down the pool... questions, shoulds and shouldn't haves!!

"Invisible" U2 RED Edit

"Invisible" (RED edit)

It’s like the room just cleared of smoke
I didn’t even want the heart you broke
It’s yours to keep
You just might need one

I finally found my real name
I won’t be me when you see me again
No, I won’t be my father’s son

I’m more than you know
I’m more than you see here
More than you let me be
I’m more than you know
A body in a soul
You don’t see me but you will
I am not invisible

That's right
I'm leaving the invisible world

I don’t dream, not as such
I don’t even think about you that much
Unless I start to think at all

All those frozen days
And your frozen ways
They melt away your face like snow

I’m more than you know
I’m more than you see here
I’m more than you let me be
I’m more than you know
A body in a soul
You don’t see me but you will
I am not invisible
I am here

There is no them
There is no them
There’s only us
There’s only us
There is no them
There is no them
There’s only us
There’s only us
There is no them
There is no them
There’s only you
And there’s only me
There is no them

LENT 1 @ Scone today at 9.30am

   It went OK, but not everything worked!! That's OK, there were experiments and they were acknowledged as such... I do get frustrated when a song file doesn't play after being inserted into a slide, when it has played several times in preparation... so we missed "Bad" U2 by Luka Bloom as a backing for our activity...
Explaining some things we were doing went too long and my hunch that [2] songs would have been better was correct. At the same time people's annoyance when things go over one hour frustrates me as they also prefer [4] communal songs if not [5]... The announcements placed at the start and taking up time give away the focus of the community on itself or at worst a lack of understanding of the need for this time to be curated as an experience for multiple learning styles, different cultural needs and a missional edge. That's alright, 2 weeks time will only go for 45mins to give the time back...
   Pictured are dry leaves with words, sentences, scribbles of owning up, lament, hopes and thoughts of alienation and distance... I probably shouldn't have said I'd love to take a chainsaw to the pews when I invited people into a discussion in [3]s. People appreciated thoughts springing from Al McRae's great LENT EVENT stuff.

"The Making of Midnight Oil"

   Manly Museum & Art Gallery have put together an exhibition that will travel but starts at the space in Manly from June 20th until about September 2014!! Rob Hirst has been involved [and it's a fitting location] and I'm only disappointed I wasn't asked to contribute a drumstick, t-shirt or album cover... the band s own archive of stuff and the fact they video recorded lots of full shows will make this an interesting dip into a great story!!

Jim Moginie and Neil Murray

   These two seem to have disappeared from Lizottes gig guide, which I wasn't getting to tomorrow night, so there's still a chance for me to get my act together elsewhere!! Neil Murray's material is just as iconic and humble!!

LENT Photo #04 "40"

   Jesus spent a significant 40 days in the 'wilderness' taking time to restore, to reflect and make time and space for the struggles and difficulties ahead!! It invites us as communities to think and practice how we can be places and spaces for significant encounters with God, whether in times of plenty or times of 'drought'!!
   This illustration by Si Smith is from his '40' series and the AV is available via Proost UK

LENT Photo #03 Giving up Chocolate

"................"

LENT Photo #02 Temptation

   A contemporary take on the opening week theme... temptation to focus on and allow a whole range of things be your 'God'...
James Janknegt

Photos for LENT #01 Alienation

"Alienation" Silvio Carpizo
   I have decided to see if I can do photo a day for the forty days of LENT [excludes Sunday] and they won't all be pictures I've taken, won't all be photos... might include art or cartoons...

LENT EVENT Resources

The LENT EVENT Resources are quite brilliant and are available for download from here

LENT 1: At Scone "Alienation/Reconciliation"

To help me 'collect my thoughts' here's the work in progress that is worship for this Sunday in Scone

Local custom sees ANNOUNCEMENTS and WELCOME done by Congregational Chairperson

CALL we will watch a clip of “Small Things” The Audreys

Litany for Lent adapted from one by Rex Hunt

We gather at the beginning of LENT

A time of invitation, to reflect, to evaluate, to WAIT

Jesus invites us to a way of celebration,

Meeting and feasting with the humble poor

ALL: Let us walk his way with joy

Jesus beckons us to a way of risk,

Letting go of our security.

ALL: Let us walk his way with joy

Jesus challenges us to listen to the voices

of those who have nothing to lose.

ALL: Let us walk his way with joy

Jesus points us to a way of self-giving,

where power and status are overturned.

ALL: Let us walk his way with joy

Jesus calls us to follow the way of the cross,

where despair is transformed

by the promise of new life.

ALL: Let us walk his way with joy

HYMN “In the Midst of All Our Living”

People will hopefully pick up this to tune TiS 392

PRAYER from Thom Shuman

Jesus began his ministry to the world,

led by the Spirit into the wilderness.


As we begin our Lenten journey,


let us be led by the Spirit,
even into the uncomfortable places.


In those forty days, and in that place,


Jesus was faced with hunger, doubt
and temptation.


As we seek to follow Jesus,
we would be led,


even into the uncomfortable choices.


Jesus left the wilderness,
faithful and obedient to God,


rejoicing in the One in whom he trusted.


As we continue on our path to faithfulness,


we will be led by our Christ,
 rejoicing in the Lord our God.

Amen

LENT Reflection/Response

EXPLAIN/INVITE...

This is what I hope will be a main focus for the experience

An opportunity for reflection/confession/lament/hope

People will be invited to write on a gum leaf and place it in a basket or on a cloth

[this is the bit I'm working on] as a prayer

To give this space and time, once explained we will listen to

 “Bad” U2 sung by Luka Bloom with lyrics onscreen

If you twist and turn away

If you tear yourself in two again

If I could, yes I would

If I could, I would

Let it go

Surrender

Dislocate

If I could throw this

Lifeless lifeline to the wind

Leave this heart of clay

See you walk, walk away

Into the night

And through the rain

Into the half-light

And through the flame

If I could through myself

Set your spirit free

I'd lead your heart away

See you break, break away

Into the light

And to the day

To let it go

And so to fade away

To let it go

And so fade away

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

Wide awake

I'm not sleeping

Oh, no, no, no

If you should ask then maybe they'd

Tell you what I would say

True colors fly in blue and black

Bruised silken sky and burning flag

Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes

If I could, you know I would

If I could, I would

Let it go...

This desparation

Dislocation

Separation

Condemnation

Revelation

In temptation

Isolation

Desolation

Let it go

And so fade away

To let it go

And so fade away

To let it go

And so to fade away

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

Wide awake

I'm not sleeping

Oh, no, no, no

 

SONG “SORRY LORD” Retrospect 2 Leigh Newton either accompanied or mp3

with a hopefilled comment about God's love and forgiveness

BIBLE READING

Matthew 4: 1-11

REFLECTION

I think it will end up being about feelings and examples of feeling alienated from God

That it can be tempting to craft our own God's

Who in our lives do we believe feels this alienation, whose on the edge of our society

It reminds us that when we place other things ahead of God's call we are not participating in the Kingdom

Brokenness and falling into the distractions are part of being human and this is less about individual moral choices or actions and more an opportunity to think about where and how we will know God's identity by who we connect with and how we spend our time

Do you have the spiritual resources to be alone, to carry on or is it time to 'own up' and seek reconciliation

or something like that...

SONG “Seek Ye First” TiS 745

Including OFFERING

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

For the world, local issues & people… led by a local leader

SONG “When There is No Star to Guide You”

to the tune of TiS 152

SENDING OUT

Word of Mission I'm not settled on this yet but it's pencilled in

The presentness of God reaches beyond this place...

The community candle is extinguished…

For the blessings we each bestow on one another

with our energy, compassion, and prayer, we give thanks.

For the blessings we become to others in need,

we give thanks and remember that we are not alone 

(DTaylor et al)

Sending Out

Go now and walk lightly upon the earth,

for the places in which you

stand,

walk,

play,

work,

love,

and sleep, are holy.

Live simply. Protect vulnerable creatures and places.

Resist evil. Be of good courage.

Care for the earth.

Go now in the strength of Creativity God to be a blessing to creation.

Amen.

This will be a 'stretch' for people, different lyrics to familiar tunes
A tactile and visual experience encouraging space and silence and action
A beginning to gathered activity for LENT
It'll still have a 4 songs linear pattern so people know where we are at...

"40" Si Smith

   I hope the creator of this video bought the original images fro Proost UK here as I have done, but it's an interesting way of gathering the great images...