They know me at this bar
Where I sit sipping silken foam
The world passes by
A mix of the electric and the eclectic
So much life gather together
An enjoyment of all that is good
Broken only by the tearing noise of raging traffic.
Then once passed, we resume our enjoyment of all that is, and was, and still could be.
Live life with me
Here on this street
In the last few months I’ve been trying to build a new Church.
A church which tells old stories in new and imaginative ways.
A church which is open and welcoming to everyone, at any stage of their journey through life.
Open, encouraging and inclusive.
Meeting at The Peacock Bar, 25 North Parade, means we are not bound by any rules of ‘normal’ churches.
The following is a write up of our first ever meeting….
If you’re wondering what we actually did at the first of these events I’ll give you a quick walk through…
We watched some music videos with me suggesting some ways that they link to the story of the woman at the well. While we did that we used a plastic cup to think about water, drinks and being thirsty. At one point we discovered the cups we had couldn’t be fully filled because they all had something in them already. Each cup had a piece of a dissolvable sterilising tablet inside which we decided to get rid of so we could fill our cups with new things. We tipped the tablets into a large, clear vase of water and watched them disappear. After listening to the story from Johns gospel of ‘The Woman At The Well’ we started to think about what we’d like to fill our cups with. As we watched a music video for the song ‘There is hope’ we thought about people we might try and help (including ourselves) Everyone was then invited to receive communion, if they wanted to, pouring wine into their empty cups as a sign that wanted to receive a blessing.
Some people joined in every part of the service, others didn’t and no one was made to do anything that they didn’t want to.
The whole service was designed to try and help us all think a little deeper about life, love and faith but it was up to each person there to decide what the words, pictures and actions meant to them.
We’ve met again a couple of times since then, we’ve looked at other stories together.
After every service you’re very welcome to stay for a drink (and some bread and cheese) and ask any questions or tell me your story.
It would be wonderful to see you there, whoever you are.
We meet again tomorrow (29th March) at 11am
You can follow our events on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/285065488666253/?event_time_id=285065501999585?ti=icl
Our next #BeerAndHymns
St Arnold’s was featured in the Waitrose Weekend magazine this week…
You can pick up a copy in their stores or download their app
It does seem to have created some interest and quite a few questions!
If you’d like to know more please follow me on twitter @starnolds or email me at starnoldsbradford@gmail.com
Thanks!
I’m very excited about our next #beerandhymns event at Bradford Brewery.
‘The Harvest’ will be our traditional harvest festival where we’ll gather together to sing about God’s goodness to us, drink some cracking beers and make our offerings for Bradford Food Bank.
https://bradfordcentral.foodbank.org.uk has loads of information about the donations that are needed and how they’ll be used.
Please feel free to download the poster in the post and share it with your church/group/family/pets anyone and everyone basically!
If you’d like any more information about this event or the St Arnold’s Pub chaplaincy project please do leave me a message on this post or hop over and see me on twitter @StArnolds
Hope to see lots of you on the 9th October
Minister Me 