Hymns from the terraces

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One@11

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

The Wind

I love the idea of prevenient grace. A grace that goes before us, that has always been in the world, seeking us out. There are several occasions within The Bible where Gods Spirit is referred to as ‘wind’ or ‘breath’. It’s an image of power, you only need to see how crazy kids get on a windy day to understand that!