This morning we looked at the concept of waiting for and waiting upon, influenced by a wonderful Advent read – see image below – and Lectio 365 recently.

After a moment of stilling ourselves and opening liturgy, we walked with words from Carys Walsh and R S Thomas and returned to share our responses to them. This is what we read:

Frequencies of God – Walking through Advent with R S Thomas – Carys Walsh

The qualities of waiting in Advent are different to that of Lent. We look forward to the incarnation, that has, paradoxically, already happened, as well as to Christ’s coming again, but also to God coming to us now – it is a time of hope with the possibility of joy.

Walsh suggests that it is also a time to ‘recognise those ways in which the heart’s muscle closes and atrophies in the busyness of the year, or in the familiarity of faith forged in a lifetime’s patterning but made almost invisible, through its ubiquity.’

Advent is a time of an ‘expectant waiting with hearts open, hopeful of a richer encounter with God, and uncertain of what this might mean for us. This kind of waiting… may take the whole season of Advent to arrive at a kind of waiting that is more than “waiting for”, that is also a “waiting upon”… This kind of attentive, surrendered waiting may also be the work of a lifetime. Michael Ramsey (the Archbishop of Canterbury 1961-74) is said to have declared that he prayed for two minutes – “but it takes me twenty-eight minutes to get there”.

‘Our experience of waiting may be transformed by the Advent journey, as waiting itself becomes a place of God’s action, and the apparent emptiness in which we sit hums with the presence of God upon whom we wait… This may be a time of learning the contours of waiting, and recognising that as we put ourselves in the way of God, we begin to see in the dark, and discover a presence so profound that we cannot escape it. And as we focus on God’s presence, we may notice the breath of God who breathes in and through us.’

In a country church – R S Thomas

To one kneeling down no word came,

Only the wind’s song, saddening the lips

Of the grave saints, rigid in glass;

Or the dry whisper of unseen wings,

Bats not angels, in the high roof.

Was he balked by silence? He kneeled long,

And saw love in a dark crown

Of thorns blazing, and a winter tree

Golden with the fruit of a man’s body.

After this we had a reading from the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel where Hannah returns with a thank offering after giving birth to Samuel. Two weeks ago the commentator on Lectio 365 wrote:

‘When I experience an answer to prayer, I have a head-on encounter with the reality of God in my life. No matter what other difficulties I face, these miraculous moments act as markers for me, securing my faith. They are reminders that God is powerful, that he loves me and that he will look after me’ (Lectio 365)

So we considered the questions:

What answers to prayers do I look back to that secure my faith?

Is there a thank offering I could make for an answer to prayer?

What do I need to hear from this story about waiting today?

We shared names and situations where people are waiting, in limbo, powerless, yearning and prayed for them:

For those living in fear, under attack or displaced in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, South Sudan, Yemen and so many other places

Jesus be close

For those living as refugees in foreign lands having left loved ones or all they had held dear

Jesus comfort and restore

For those harried by injustice and threat

Jesus save

For those whose marriages or home lives are the source of distress and pain

Jesus help

For those suffering grief and loss

Jesus heal

For those struggling with mental health

Jesus come to them

For those awaiting medical findings, who are afraid

Jesus en-courage

For those dependent on others to bring justice and safety

Jesus advocate

For ourselves with the mission to be salt and light and good-news-bearers

Jesus inspire

Amen Amen Amen

Then we share bread and wine, taking a time to be still, to wait upon God before closing by pointing to one another, as we often do, conferring blessing on one another with these words:

So, in our waiting and yearning and trusting and in gratitude, may the blessing of God, Mother, lover and friend, be upon you and you and you and…

This Sunday was led by Sarah B. This was her content:

On the theme of fishing, fishing, fisherman. As a youngster I fished a lot, ocean fishing of the back of boat for mackerel. Some days we caught nothing, other times we went through vast shoals and could pull up 4 or five at a time from one line. The most we caught was around 30, we gave them away when we reached shore. The rest we grilled on a bar-b-que on the cliff top There are no lightening strike thoughts or insights, so just to leave each bit with you to contemplate for yourself.

The parable of the Mexican fisherman and the banker

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American offered, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you could then sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would then control the product, processing, and distribution. You would get to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “Ah but, how long might this all take?”

To which the American replied, “around 15 – 20 years.”

The American laughed and said, “And here is the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions eh? Hmm well and then what?”

The American said, “Why then you would retire! Move to a pretty seashore coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Turning to Scripture

Here are two stories, one from the start of Jesus ministry and once after the Crucifixion. Their similarity and repetition embodies the resonance of the Jewish story telling traditions. Fishermen fish at night as the time for the best chance of catching fish, these people who had fished all their lives, who lived at the lake’s edge knew in their bones how to fish. A stranger tells them to do something against all their instincts. For some reason they do listen.

https://www.thework-fso.org/faith-and-life/the-miraculous-catch-of-fish-and-the-calling-of-peter-acting-in-faith-1#:~:text=The%20evangelist%20tells%20us%20the,5%3A4b%2D5a).

We read two accounts of Jesus helping his disciples to catch fish – from Luke 5 and John 21. Nigel shared that the Greek word used for the fire in John’s account denotes a specific type of fire – a charcoal fire, which would have given off a very particular scent. It is used in only one other place in the Gospel, that is, for the fire where Peter warmed his hands on the night he denied knowing Jesus.

We wandered around the park with the words of those stories and all we had shared before returning for a communion of bread, grilled fish and wine. Finally we looked at images from the book Of Kells where fish interweve words…

Book of Kells

The imagery of fishes woven through the text… scholars have argued over the meaning of fish as Christian symbolism. Perhaps we look for meaning where there is none, fish were an everyday thing in Palestine and in Iona, they were visible in the waters, they were food. They are colourful like flowers and leaves, and weave through reeds and seaweed, as they weave through the words. The were used to hide mistakes, or to act as hypens. As Sarah said, sometimes thre is no greater meaning to things – sometimes it’s ‘just life’ and we don’t need to try to make sense of everything! Much to mull over – a good time together!

With the unfolding horror of the Hamas attacks on the Jewish community and the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza it seemed right that on a beautiful crisp Autumn morning in the park, not only should we give thanks for all we enjoyed here, but that we also looked square in the face of what was happening in the world and prayed. But what to pray?

Peacekeepers or Peacemakers?

The perhaps over-familiar words of the Sermon on the Mount might be misheard or misinterpreted.  Jesus’ didn’t say “blessed are the peacekeepers.” But “blessed are the peacemakers.”  The distinction between the two is vital. Peace-keeping can actually be the opposite of Peace-making. 

Peacekeepers’ ambition is to keep the peace at all costs.  As a result, we can often avoid the discomfort needed to solve issues at the core and instead focus on maintaining the status quo.  But the status quo of our world needs to be broken, and keeping the peace isn’t enough. Taken to its extreme, keeping the peace would have meant allowing slave owners to continue to own slaves, it would have meant not allowing women to vote, and would enable countries to invade others as long as it doesn’t impact petrol prices too much.

Peacemakers, on the other hand, can be disruptors. They recognise that sometimes, they need to disrupt the status quo to allow real peace to prevail. Peacemakers actively build peace; they speak up when it’s uncomfortable and step in where injustice has taken a foothold.

When we talk about peacemaking, we talk reconciliation. We’re talking about building bridges and creating opportunities for relationships to be mended and strengthened.

When done Jesus’ way, peace can literally be the opposite of safety. 

And a living example of this can be seen in Vivian Silver. The 74-year-old Canadian-Israeli has  spent her adult life campaigning for peace and human rights for Palestinians, particularly those living in impoverished Gaza. On Saturday morning, Vivian was one of the many hostages kidnapped by Hamas and currently her whereabouts and welfare is unknown.

So this morning we prayed, we sighed, we groaned and we asked for Peacemakers’ voices to be heard. And we were reminded ; 

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8.

And as has happened before, the bandstand, for a few minutes, became a ‘thin-place’, as a white dove (and no matter if it was a pigeon!)  perched on the railings….

We used the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury too:

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=928811495281762&set=pcb.928811668615078

And amidst it all, we sued words from Psalm 23, words from our litany of thanksgiving, words from our Companions liturgy and words from Celtic encircling prayers. Overall, a very moving, sobering time together

We began by sharing with those newer to us, the events of our 10th birthday – do scroll back 4 years to see what was so special that day! And after thinking of the Holy Spirit pigeon’s affirmation of us, we used the following words before staying, then, with a deep silence which was very special:

Then we were invited to write on a sheet divided into 2 columns headed ‘Church with…’ and ‘Church without…’ (the latter being a sort of tag line for ThirdSpace). These are the things that we came up with:

Church with: Birdsong, Faith, Acceptance, Christ, Welcome, Festivals, Hospitality, Support, Genuine community, Doubts, A coracle! Nature, Flexiblity, Open invitation to bread and wine, Variety reflecting individuality, Open to other traditions, Creativity, Inclusivity…

Church without: Heirarchy, Walls, A 5-year plan, Prejudice, Certainty, singing! PCC! Preaching, Dogma, Qualifying rules, Religiosity, Power-plays, Bureaucracy’ Division between church/non-church/religion/non-religion, New disciples …

We used the words of our ‘Emerging Creed’ and finally, we shared bread and wine using those early ‘Companions’ words and named those who we knew who needed to be included in that.

It was a very special gathering and we are all so thankful for this place, this church and these people! Hoorah!