Eternal Echoes

Festival outreach part 2, who came and why?

My last post was about the Churches Together Prayer Tent at Downham Market Festival, and following Angela's comment on the post I'd like to think a little more about who came and why....

The tent has been placed on the Festival site for almost 10 years now, with Tim and I responsible for setting up the installations and the team for the last 5 years. It represents a small part of the work that we do in the community, but is by contrast a large and visible representation of that work.. The installation itself is carefully thought out and prepared to be colourful and inviting, but I suspect that more people come because of the relationships we have built than anything else, because they felt comfortable with us they came....

...and because this was not a formal or churchy setting they felt free to engage with what was on offer....

What was on offer was the Through the Church Year Installation, which beginning with Advent took folk on a journey through the life of Jesus. At each section there was an interactive meditation and a Chance to respond (pray).

The fact that most folk took longer at the sections for Lent and Good Friday provides the Church with an instructive reflection, folk want to engage with a Jesus who meets them where they are,  one who understands temptation and suffering. They don't want an unattainable, untouchable Jesus. The Church folk as I mentioned yesterday were more interested in the Christmas and Easter sections, I wonder if in our rush to communicate the Good News we forget that sometimes we have to make room for it, by that I mean that often people carry around with them the concept that they are not and cannot be good enough. Negative images of Church and church folk abound, and an unreal rush to communicate the good stuff ( and it undoubtedly is good stuff) misses the depths that some need. We have Good news because of the wilderness and because of Good Friday.

I believe that what we saw yesterday was the evidence of a real hunger for meaning and depth to life, Tim was surrounded by about ten members of one family as he told Jesus story from the Jesus Deck, mixing in his testimony and being relaxed enough to answer questions, treating them as welcome interruptions. I spent over half an hour with one couple, again using the Jesus Deck, they picked cards one by one to speak into their past, present and future, finding once again that this representation of the Gospels opened connectionsand made room for meaningful dialogue.

Meeting people where they are is essential, I believe that most people are aware of the spiritual side of their nature but quite often don't know how to go about exploring what it might mean for them to be spiritual beings. This work contrasts the Mind Body and Soul outreach that I am more often involved in, here people are aware of their spirituality and are actively seeking, yesterday I think that for some folk that seeking began as they allowed a misunderstood or ignored part of themselves to surface. For some this was joyful, for others ( and these were the majority), it meant finding the suffering Jesus and allowing themselves to be found by him.

Festival outreach part 1, engaging with the hungry (?)

I spent the day on Downham Market's Festival Field, for the last 5 years we have been responsible for setting up the Churches Together Prayer Tent, as the theme for the Festival this year was Through the Ages I decided to present the Church Year in colour, and through reflective and interactive meditation. Alongside this Tim and I offered Jesus Deck Readings, once again, they were surprisingly accurate!... All in all it was a very good day..

One group of people were so impressed that they kept coming back, bringing different friends with them each time. The readings were well received and the most popular prayer station was the one that dwelt upon Lent;

"We all have things in our lives we are sorry for, burdens if you like; the season of Lent offers us a chance to connect with those things, to recognize them, to be sorry for them, then to give that burden to God  and leave them behind…

 You might like to leave something behind you as you leave this space, take the time to talk to God about them, God is a God of love and forgiveness, when we are sorry he forgives us.

Take a stone in your hand, and feel its weight, let that weight represent the burden you are carrying, drop it into the empty bucket, listen to the thud as it hits the bottom, it has gone, and God says you are forgiven....

When you are ready move on..."

I suspect that it reflected a deep desire for transformation, this was followed of course by a reflection on Good Friday, again people lingered here, gazing at the San Damiano Icon set against a black cloth...

Interestingly though while the folk we see Sunday by Sunday rushed around the tent, lingering only at the Christmas and Easter prayer stations, most other folk lingered at Lent and Easter identifying with the God of suffering and finding as one person commented;  "that he understands where I am at...." What is going on when there is such a dichotomy in the way that people engage, what does it say about the spirituality of the nation; I reflected on these things as I emptied the bucket full of stones back into my stone box this evening, each one represented a heartfelt prayer, each one different, but....

 

 

 

A view up the Prayer Tent, from Good Friday, to Easter with the green of Ordinary Time in the background ( we didn't miss Pentecost, it just isn't visible here!!!)

 

 

Pentecost

 

 

 

 

Lent

The Jesus Deck

Following the ROMBS conference this weekend, and spending a lot of time again using and explaining the Jesus Deck with folk, I have decided that now is the time to write about how I use it, why I use it in that way, and the amazing way that God speaks through it.

What is the Jesus Deck?

It was designed as a set of playing cards by the Rev Ralph Moore, in consultation with various Scripture and Theology Consultants, in the pack is a set of instructions for games and a description of each card. The cards themselves are an attractive set of playing cards well presented in a black box with the words Jesus Deck in gold block writing on the cover. They are divided into suits according to the gospels and contain pictures of events or stories form the life of Jesus.

The booklet is fairly helpful when it comes to looking at the colours on the cards, but that is about as far as it goes, and I wonder what Rev Moore would make of them being used as an outreach tool by folk involved in engaging with the new spiritualities that abound today.

Using the deck in a fair/ exhibition

Using the deck in a spirituality fair or exhibition is an exercise in cross cultural translation no matter how you use it. Some practitioners having set up their booths will simply use the Deck as one thing amongst many, offering people who are interested the chance to choose one card and entering into a conversation from there. Stories of the right card for the right person are many, including one from John Drane about a woman who picked out the card showing Judas hanging from the tree; the consequences of that were astonishing and really do point to the God who goes before us!

I use the cards in a form that emulates a five card lay from a tarot deck, when a seeker comes for a reading (you will note that my language is becoming enculturated here) I invite them to sit down, and if they wish I explain a little about how the Deck tells the story of Jesus. I might then offer to pray that the (Holy) Spirit would guide the cards so that the right ones are laid down. I then shuffle the deck lay the five cards and we begin.

I ask the seeker (querent) which card they feel most drawn to, and from then on the reading becomes an activity of three way listening, to the Holy Spirit, to the scriptures through the cards and to the seeker. As I have already said I am amazed at the way that God works through this tool, speaking clearly opening up deep conversations. Some folk have received guidance, others affirmations, and still others deep healing through these readings. Even when I am teaching folk how I use the Deck and they think they are coming for a demonstration rather than a reading the cards act as scriptures two edged sword and lives are changed in the process.

Taking a risk?

I have been asked on more than one occasion whether I think I am taking a risk in using these cards. My response is that yes I am, but that it is no more dangerous than expecting God to speak to me through the pages of the Bible! I also believe that God calls us to take risks and not to stay within our comfort zones, and that S/he is infinitely more creative than we can possibly imagine.

Accountability

I will say however that this is not an ill thought out venture into the unknown; there are precedents for this kind of work in the book of Acts. John Drane noted at the weekend that Paul adapted the way that he approached proclaiming the gospel for the people he was speaking to. There are a number of people working in this field and we do share with and question one another. We also know one another well enough to ask the question if we think that one of us has lost the plot. That said, the question must be asked; is God here? If he goes before us where will the journey take us next?

The end of a reading at Southminster Spirit of Life Fair.

 

Mock up of a booth for 2 readers- not as tightly presented as we might like, this was not an exhibition but gives the idea of the set up.