Lent is traditionally a time when people sacrifice something either as a penance or as a detoxification from an indulgence. We can also plan to do something that will be more proactive and that will benefit our community, environment, world or mankind in general..

Tear Fund produced a Lent Course in 2012 called The Carbon Fast which we used for some ideas this morning.

“There is a lovely verse in Genesis: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (3:8)

The story hurries on towards its famous climax. But everyone who has been to a hot country will know the joy of feeling the evening breeze as the day turns, the temperature drops, the light and colour return to the land.

To realise that God too, embraces the cool of the evening is to understand that the earth is created for his pleasure. Its beauty, its variety and all its delights are there for God. And God shared them with us, his creatures, in love.

Herein lays the true character of stewardship, that care for the earth is our sacred task as God’s companions, for his pleasure and for our salvation. Such is the word of the Lord.”

From The Carbon Fast in Hong Kong by The Most Rev. Paul Kwong, Archbishop and Primate of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, also known as Hong Kong Anglican Church.

***

We might have all been wishing we were walking in a garden in the cool of the evening of a hot day instead of a freezing cold morning, but the whole earth “the variety and all its delights are there for God.”

We are privileged to be in the park which contains a lovely garden.Imagine you are walking with Jesus, seeing what he is seeing, enjoying what he is enjoying, delighting in the variety of what we have around us and thinking of the life that is waiting to burst forth in spring.

As you walk round have a “conversation” – and reflect on how God might want you to care for his earth.

Some ideas that might help from www.greenchristian.org.uk

Using your LOAF:

LOCAL : Do you consider sourcing locally produced goods?

ORGANIC : Could you consider buying organic goods or gardening more organically?

ANIMAL FRIENDLY : Do you consider the way animals are treated in when you are shopping?

FAIRTRADE : Could you buy more Fairtrade products?

*

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

In a few moments of silence

Let’s ask God that our actions may help us to walk more in step with Him so that we may be a blessing to our global neighbours and the rest of creation.

Sharing bread and wine.

What do we bring to Christ’s table?

We bring bread,

made by many people’s work,

from an unjust world

where some have plenty

and most go hungry.

At this table all are fed,

And no-one is turned away.

Thanks be to God.

Take the bread.

What do we bring to Christ’s table?

We bring wine,

made by many people’s work,

from an unjust world

where some have leisure

and most struggle to survive.

At this table all share the cup

of pain and celebration,

and no-one is denied.

Thanks be to God.

Take the wine.

This bread and wine shall be for us the body and blood of Christ!

Our witness against hunger,

Our cry against injustice,

And our hope for a world

Where God is fully known

And everyone is fed and loved.

Thanks be to God.

Blessing.

In a world of excess and waste,

Lord, help us bring care and respect.

In a world of inequality,

Lord, help us bring your justice.

In a world of selfishness,

Lord, help us to be generous.

In a world of greed,

Lord, help us to be contented. Amen.

Had a good evening last night discussing how we might update our website and give a truer impression of Soulspace with Phil- a-million-monkeys-Smith. Thanks Phil for your patience and wisdom and advice – we may yet get ourselves geared up for facebook!

Prayer was centred around a new feature – a wooden cross based on the one at St Non’s, St David’s Pembs which has featured on a couple of pilgrimage days for some of us. It was made by Jonathon Hemingray, based in Derby – do look at his stuff on www.jonathonhemingray.co.uk – he’s fantastic!

We used our Celtic evening prayer, holding stones representing those we were holding in prayer and making time for silence too. We had stones with our initials around the cross with candles too and later divvied up our usual ‘Secret Santa’ style prayer partners for Lent: we all pray for someone in the group though we don’t know who is praying for us.

Good to see Colin back in the country and catch up on some of his and Michele’s adventures. Thanks everyone for a lovely evening x

We were greeted this morning in the bandstand with two mystery bundles.

So what what was that all about then?

Paul talked about recently having seen the film Les Miserables – the over riding message that he got from the film was “Redemption”

Whatever we are really like, however dark and polluted we are there is a chance to be made clean.

He illustrated this beautifully by stirring up some disgusting water (one of the mystery bundles uncovered) taken from his drain. Saying no-one really knows what goes on inside us. We all thought Paul was going to give us some juicy confessions as he stirred up the disgusting liquid and talked about himself. 

Then he revealed the other bundle – a container of clear, pure liquid. Illustrating that we are made clean through what Jesus has done for us.

As we shared the bread and wine some wine was spilled which beautifully served to show the symbolism of the cleansing redemptive blood of Jesus.

Polluted water, wine spilled and crystal clear water

Hollywood may have had its success with Eat Pray Love, but I reckon Lent got there first with its emphasis on Fast Pray Give! Today in rain, rather than snow, we began to prepare for Lent so that Ash Wednesday doesn’t take us by surprise. We all had a sheet to take away, with the following captions:

Fast – from my usual habits.

Ask God to inspire you to know what would be good to give up and/or to take up…

This Lent I will fast by….

Pray – more.

Consider what you might do differently / better this Lent. Where and when and how will you pray differently?

This Lent I will pray more by….

Give– whenever you can – of time, money, thoughtfulness…

Will your fasting mean unspent money?

Who / what will you donate it to?

Ask God to open your imagination and your eyes to see opportunities to give to others – family, friends, colleagues, strangers… Make it a personal challenge to out-do your usual efforts to be generous / to find at least one thing to do in service of others in each of the next 40 days!

This Lent I will aim to give….

Our time of worship focussed on the pretzel – something devised by monks reflecting the common prayer position from the early 600s of folding your arms over each other on your chest and putting your hands on your shoulders. Additionally, the three holes in a pretzel are said to represent the Holy Trinity.

We adopted this prayer position as we reflected upon what things needed to be addressed, rectified and forgiven over these next 40-or-so days. The pretzels became our bread in sharing bread and wine.

Liturgies we’ve used before framed our prayers – and despite the damp and cold, something special was shared – not least in blessing one another for the coming season, when, please God, we might all be moved on in our journey with Christ.

Snow covering the peaks, the park and the bandstand, all wrapped up warm in many layers – meeting outside that’s what it’s all about.

The view that greeted us this morning.

Worship for a snowy day.

Sisters and brothers God’s presence is here and we are gathered to offer him thanks and praise.

Thank you, Lord that we are unique and irreplaceable, loved and wanted, known and treasured by you.

Thank you, Lord, for the ever changing seasons. For the beauty that always surrounds us here. For snow and ice and dazzling white as nature rests and sleeps until the time is right.

So Lord we seek you in the snowy beauty of this morning and in the company of friends. May each one of us be awakened to your presence among us. Amen.

Micah 4: 2-4.

Who can resist making footprints in the snow?

Casting a Caim or encircling prayer

Casting a Caim or encircling prayer is a technique that was used by the early Celtic Church. Traditionally you can draw an invisible circle around yourself with your right index finger by extending your arm towards the ground and turning clockwise with the sun. We did it by making circles in the snow with our footprints. As we did this we became aware that we were safe and encompassed by the love of God: that we were encircled, enfolded and protected.

Interconnecting circles made by footprints in the snow

     Standing in the circles we heard this prayer

Encircling Prayer

Circle us Lord,Keep protection near, And danger afar.

Circle us Lord, Keep light near, And darkness afar.

Circle us Lord, Keep peace within, Keep evil out.

Circle us Lord, Keep hope within, Keep doubt without.

Maori paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer.

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, source of all that is and shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven. May the hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by all people! Your heavenly will be done by all created things! Your commonwealth of peace and joy sustain our hope and come on Earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. So we may feed others. In the hurts we absorb from one another forgive us. In times of temptation, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.

Sharing Bread and Wine.

For this place and this time, we thank you.

For the beauty and wonder of creation, we thank you.

For snow and ice and dazzling white, we thank you.

For daily food, for home and family, we thank you.

For minds to think, hearts to love and hands to create, we thank you.

For all who pursue peace and justice and truth, we thank you.

For Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, we thank you.

For bread broken and wine poured out, we thank you.

For your extravagant generosity, we thank you.

Final blessing

May You be a bright flame before us,
May You be a guiding star above us,
May You be a smooth path below us,
And a loving Guide behind us,
Today, tonight, and forever.

How can you top meeting in a place like this?

This morning in the park we took the opportunity to look back at 2012 and then forward to 2013, both individually, but more importantly as a group.

Jonny Bakers New Year questions helped us to reflect.

As part of Third space over the last few years,  I find myself less stressed about my little individual ‘personal relationship’ with God and more bothered about how the community, corporate, aspect of my faith should be lived out (without us all skipping off to create a commune).

The original Third Space in Acts Chapter 2 seemed a good place to start although safe to say we’re some way off from their example.

Today was a good opportunity to look again at our values. Which ones have we in 2012 strengthened and developed? Which ones have slipped off our radar? What is God saying to us about our values for 2013? I’m hoping it’s a conversation we continue over the coming weeks.

As I reflect on all we are (and aren’t) in Third Space, I give thanks for the way we are able to connect with other similar communities across the UK and the world through the web. Communities like Grace, Aoradh and This Fragile Tent, and Maybe sustain and support us here in rural Derbyshire without even knowing it, and hopefully, maybe we do the same for others too.

So, to all our fellow journeyers ‘out there’ in your small missional communities, may you know God’s blessing in 2013 as you continue on your journey. and if you need any more inspiration for values, you couldn’t do much better that this:

“But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” Corinthians 13.

Grace and Peace.

An unusually mild morning found us sharing the park with dog walkers and children trying out their new bikes, Our enthusiastic Christmas greetings to each other took care of any further chill in the air.

In brief we shared contributions that we had brought along which included;

• A Christmas Liturgy from Abbotsford.org.uk
• 2 Christmas carols – sung unaccompanied with gusto (technology failed us) but who needs it.
• A Christmas poem by John Betjeman
• Harry lit an incense stick and we were told of the tradition of prayers being lifted to God in the smoke of the incense, we then wrote prayers on luggage labels and tied them to the shepherds crook, remembering the good news to the Christmas shepherds and that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
• We revisited prayers for people we had prayed for last Christmas day and then sent them symbolically up into the hands of God in clouds of smoke (provided by BBQ)
• Steve wrote a wonderful Christmas day liturgy for sharing bread and wine.

Happy Christmas and see you all in the New Year!

We met on the last Sunday in Advent traditionally a time when churches take part in a service of nine lessons and carols. This morning Third Space did their our own version of this tradition adding a few little twists and edits. This tradition was started in 1880 by the Bishop of Truro with the aim of showing that Gods plan of redemption was there from the beginning of time and to keep people out of the pubs. Around the same time the tradition of Christmas crackers started, there is absolutely no Christian symbolism to them as they were an idea developed by a sweet maker to promote his sweets.

So as part of our celebrations we used the traditional advent wreath and candle with some Christmas crackers.

The wreath, the candle and the cracker

Tucked inside each cracker was a bible reading, a prayer, a poem or an instruction.

Numbered crackers were handed round.

We found someone to pull our cracker with…

we read our piece in order …

                                                               putting our jokes gifts and hats back in the box for later.

after sharing bread and wine we read the jokes, chose a gift which we gave to someone else and then we put on our hats. HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

and …

the message for the morning?

The idyllic image that is portrayed by the commercial Christmas today is often difficult for some people.

We remembered in prayer those we know who would find this Christmas difficult.

BUT the Jesus who came at Christmas time came to bring good news to the poor, the bereaved, the lonely, the oppressed the hungry  and the outcast.

So every time you pull a cracker this Christmas …

remember the real meaning of Christmas

and

Crackers can only work when there are others to pull them with …

so remember and give thanks for your family and friends. We gave thanks especially for us those in our Third Space Community who we share much more than crackers with.

Bandstand being used … Victorian Market Marquees … Fairground rides … What has happened to the park?

Knowing the Victorian Christmas Market was being held and the bandstand was being used by others we had to go to plan B

An advent breakfast Swedish Style.

We started in brilliant sunshine and sharp frost, but not the dark morning Advent breakfast that most Swedes celebrate, but undeterred we lit out gel lantern, hung up our star, thought about advent.

What are we waiting for, what are we anticipating, what is God doing, what is He going to do?

What is our part in all of this?

Bread and Wine – shared sitting down for a change (really revolutionary!)

On to breakfast – Danish pastries (well it is next door to Sweden), eggs, croissant, toast, fruit and much more.

So good to have time to talk with friends old and new over a hearty breakfast.