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| Latest NewsWeekly News Sheet Focal Point Thank you spiralspark: space for encounter one year on...
Spiralspark began with a group of people seeking to create a space for open exploration within the broad stream of Christian tradition. We held our first evening event in March 2009, on the theme of journey, and have grown and developed as we have put together each monthly event since then. Over this time, our evenings have settled into a pattern of gathering around projected images, words and music – then inviting people to spend half an hour exploring the various activities around the space in whatever ways feel right for them, with plenty of space for contemplation – then gathering again before we share refreshments.The evenings are usually thought provoking combinations of contemporary and ancient images, ideas and activities, with people of all ages from children through to those in retirement taking part. As we unpack each of the themes, we seek to reflect creatively and imaginatively on the question, “What might Christianity have to say about God, ourselves, one another and our world?”Our next events are: spiralspark: storymaking - 7pm, Sunday 2nd May spiralspark: play - 7pm, Sunday 6th June spiralspark: outside - 7pm, Sunday 4th July
Here is a little taste of the last few events (for more information and regular updates see our blog at http://spiral-spark.blogspot.com/ or join our mailing list by emailing elizabeth-wild@live.co.uk ): September 6th – spiralspark: new beginnings
We explored saying goodbye to the old and stepping in to the new, with the opportunity to go through the “gateway of new beginnings” and to decide what to leave behind and what to pack to take with us. At the end we were able to plant a bulb – for ourselves, and also in a communal pot – to represent our new beginnings.
October 4th – spiralspark: consequences
We thought about the positive and negative consequences of our actions, reflecting on climate change and what we can do about it, and sharing the “good fruit” and composting the “bad fruit” in our lives. We took away bags of rice to remind us of the difference we can make without ever knowing we have.
November 1st – spiralspark: remembering
We considered our own personal patterns of remembering and forgetting and lit sparklers as a way of remembering people we have loved who have died. There was the opportunity to ask for what is broken in our world to be re-membered, or put back together, with our collective action reminding us that we are all re-membered in God.
December 6th – spiralspark: in the flesh
We explored the bodiliness of God and the godliness of human bodies, by making people out of clay, using mirrors to consider ways that we – and other people – might reflect the divine, and looking at different ways that people have written about Jesus, sharing our own thoughts about what it might mean for God to become human. There were opportunities to receive a hand massage and to write a greetings card for the Amnesty campaign, before we ended by sharing a simple body prayer and chant.
February 7th – spiralspark: chaos
Both the beauty and the confusion of chaos were in our reflections as we thought about how ungraspable the divine is alongside images of fractals and an explosion. In our activities we made pictures with marbling ink and used wood chips to represent chaos we would like to “contain” and offer to God. We looked at ambiguous and “magic eye” pictures and shared what we saw, finally gathering to weave our own thread into the pattern of life on the loom.
March 7th – spiralspark: intention
We thought about whether there is any kind of intention or direction in our lives, exploring what we thought God’s intentions might be by choosing quotes to place on the compass and reflecting on the maze of our own intentions by trying to find our way blindfold, guided by someone else. We considered whether God’s intentions might be discovered in our own deepest longings and made maps towards our best intentions. Look out for: spiralspark: storymaking - 7pm, Sunday 2nd May spiralspark: play - 7pm, Sunday 6th June spiralspark: outside - 7pm, Sunday 4th July Elizabeth Wild, on behalf of the spiralspark team.
PASTORATES: We have now assembled our congregation at St John’s into five groups of 30-40 people, which we are calling “Pastorates”. Each Pastorate has a team of three Co-ordinators whose role is to find out how each person would like to be involved in the Pastorate, to pray for everyone in the group, get to know them, co-ordinate any help needed (such as lifts to church or home communion) and to organise social events and activities. The whole idea of having Pastorates is to enable smaller groups of people to get to know one another and care for one another together. The Co-ordinators are not the only people who will be active in the group. Many people are already active in these ways. The hope is that anyone who is interested will get involved in the activities of the Pastorate, whether getting to know and praying for one another, organising social events or keeping in touch with people who are away for any reason. There is no limit to what these groups might do – involvement in charities, worship, local community issues, church projects are all possible. For people who are already active and well known within the church community, Pastorates might not seem anything new, but for those who have more recently joined, they will be a way of getting to know a smaller group of people, which may be less daunting, and finding out how to be involved in ways that fit them. The most important hope is that Pastorates will be places where people can help one another to grow in their life as Christians, through friendship and shared activities. So the question is not so much “What will they do for me?” The real question, which will only be answered in time as Pastorates develop is, “WHAT WILL WE DO TOGETHER?” I look forward to finding out! Elizabeth Wild Please find here the Pastorate leaflet giving further information
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