I am currently reading "I am somewhere else" by Barbara Glasson. Barbara is a Methodist Minister in central Liverpool, she was sent to the city with no church to go to, it had been closed, and with a commission to see what emerged...
What has emerged is "Somewhere Else" Somewhere Else is the name of the church that is not afraid to engage with people who struggle with the idea of church yet still have an inner sense that God is up to something.
The story of the bread church in Liverpool City Centre is a sign of hope that the church can be different. This account of the life of Somewhere Else is a story of encouragement that challenges unconventional people of faith to risk living out of their own experience and be wonderfully surprised by encountering God on the edge.
Barbara's reflections on this community are missional and personal- she has found her own ideas of Church and God and humanity profoundly changed and challenged by the encounters she has had, with God in the silence, and with the needs and gifts of others she comes into contact with day by day.
I am moved and stretched by some of her reflections;
On Holiness:
Holiness is not a desired faith outcome, something that I can achieve if I concentrate hard enough- it is a gentle gift to those who hold and are held. It seems to be about learning to abide in Gods love- not in glorious isolation but in the company of others. I sense that holiness is not a state of being but a way of being, a verb rather than a noun.....
She speaks with honesty about the tensions and the trials of this emerging community within communities, of learning to be and to allow God to move amongst them. Dealing with and welcoming folk from all different backgrounds Barbara reflects that emerging church is messy. She also points out the base of power and exclusion that traditional expressions of church seem to stand for;
Sometimes society is constructed in such a way that only the powerful will find a voice. In politics in social reform and in the law there are voices that collude with silencing people. This is often manifested in jargon that is wielded as a tool of exclusion by those on the inside. The church is no stranger to this. Laden with jargon and still saturated with a patriarchal frame of reference it has bestowed words on the articulate and the theologically educated. As a result worship has often become a spectator sport for the churchgoer, and an impenetrable mass of in comprehensible ritual for the uninitiated.
I find much to agree with here, although I acknowledge the usefulness of words, and the power of ritual to draw certain elements of the community, I believe that the deeply relational model that Barbara finds herself immersed in is for many folk today the key to finding God. We live quite often in diverse and fragmented groups- people move from place to place, families are dispersed over large areas, and traditional networks are few and far between. Is the call then for the church to become community once again, to discover with one another the way to holiness on the path of discipleship?
Barbara believes that we need to learn to " be " again, to be with one another and to be with God, to stop in the midst of our rushing's and to consider that we are enfolded in love- a part of Gods plan....
When all around us is transfigured and transformed by the realisation that God is present in all things, that whatever happens to us we remain in God's love, then even in the silence we are worshipping.
As I allow the power and depth of those words to sink in I realise that there are moments when I sense God calling me aside as I go through the day, and yet often I choose to ignore them. And yet I recognise that being caught up in wonder at a rainbow or a sunset, or in the smile of a young child, or the beauty of music are doorways to worship....
So too are times shared with one another, in the mess and challenge, in the joys and pains of life- if only we have eyes to see.
I recommend Barbara's book to anyone interested in seeing community form and church begin to emerge from the relational muddle we call everyday living.
