After a week of enforced rest and a reading of Ian Adams book, Cave, Refectory, Road I felt we needed a challenge. What was God’s call to us in Matlock? What kind of difference will Third Space make to the wider community in the area?

In the midst of the darkness of this broken world,  this country,

this town, this park, this place in which we meet, it is your light we seek.

We praise you Jesus that you are the light of the world;

May your light so shine in our lives,that others might see you
and may your light shine into our community and bring the peace, hope and love of Jesus.

http://www.faithandworship.com adapted

Meditation on a pencil

I came across the parable of the pencil and I was struck when sharpening pencils how you could see similarities between people and pencils

So we are going to meditate on these pencils – what kind of pencil are you?

Please look at these pencils as if their characteristics are like your own or people that you know or know of.

There are many colours, there are many sizes, some are fat, some are thin, some are tall, others small, there are new and old ones, there are academic ones and frivolous ones, some sparkle and some are plain, some can rub out past mistakes, some can no longer do that, some will never be able to rub out past mistakes, some have been used too much, some have something to say, some have nothing to say, some show signs of being chewed up, some are broken inside.

Which one are you?

Parable of The Pencil

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. “There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

You come to us
to strengthen and to guide,
to warn and to revive your Church.
Therefore, with all your witnesses
who surround us on every side,
countless as heaven’s stars,
we praise you for our creation
and our calling,
with loving and with joyful hearts as we say:                                     A Variation from NZPB

Glory to God in the Highest.

We worship you, we give you thanks we praise you for your glory;

Jesus, son of God we thank you for your life, your teaching, your example and your sacrifice.

Church with …

Church with the cave

Church with the silence

Church with worship

Church with thanksgiving

Church with the trees

Church with the bird song

Church with the hills

Church with the sunrise

Church with the park

Church with the refectory

Church with each other

Church with the discussions in the pub

Church with the chats in the café

Church with the bread and wine

Church with laughter

Church with friendship

Church with sharing of meals together

Church with having fun together

Church with acceptance

Church with supporting each other

Church with community

Church with this community

Church showing acts of love.

Church with a road to walk …

Please spend a few minutes being thankful for what your church gives you and then a make a few notes with your pencil about how your church could change the local community for the better.

This morning we focussed on all that’s happening in Egypt at the moment.

We began with some silence as we looked out over the park and onto the hills reflecting on the following words:

Psalm 24:1

God claims Earth and everything in it

God claims world and all who live in it.

This world

Your creation

Rolled into a sphere

Packaged in sunshine

Gift-wrapped in love

Given to us

Thank you.

Steve spoke of the link in this website to Maggie Dawn’s site (see ‘Headspace’) where there is an amazing photo of Coptic Christians encircling Muslims at prayer in Taria Square, with details of how they had prepared the ground to make it more pleasant for their compatriots to pray, encouraging them to express their relationship with God. He spoke of how we might learn from our Coptic bothers and sisters in how we serve others and invite and nurture those who wish to journey in faith to God.

Encircling prayer

We then encircled those in Egypt, those in other countries in need and those known to us who need God’s blessing now, by forming our own ‘Western Wall’ and placing our prayers in cracks around the bandstand.

Our western Wall

We shared bread and wine and closed with words from the wellsprings website taken from Revelation 21-22 as we reminded ourselves of the promise of healing for the nations:

On Saturday Third Space went for a 2 mile walk from the outdoor centre to Thruscross  reservoir and along towards the dam.  The name is taken from Thor’s Cross, evidence of the Christianisation of the Vikings in the area.  The air was clear and crisp with the sun causing the hills to glow green.  The reservoir was frozen around the edge giving a feeling of stillness and calm but with an abrupt shelf part way out where the current resisted the ice.  The ice could be heard cracking and straining around the trees that it held captive and the breeze made strange groans as it whipped across the lake. 

Stillness exemplified

We were encouraged to walk ‘mindfully’, slowing right down and paying attention to the here and now, the landscape, smells and sounds around us and tuning in to what God might want to say or to show us.  This required us to refrain from conversation (with the promise of being able to chat as usual on the return!).  We paused at a few points to explore the ruins of the thriving textile industry that once dominated the valley and of the village that was flooded to create the reservoir. 

Exploring the old

 We practiced some ‘slow walking’, concentrating on the contact of our feet with the earth in each step and the movement of our muscles.  We finished the walk with a “body prayer”, praying that we each would grow in faith, hope and love.

So we took to the hills. The Yorkshire hills in all their stark beauty.

For everything there is a time. A time to eat, a time to drink, a time to talk, a time to laugh, a time to think, a time to walk, a time to stand still, a time to pray, a time to be silent.

With the help if Ian and Gail, and the themes of ‘Cave, Refectory, Road’

We reflected on where Third Space was now and where we hoped it would be in the future.

We breathed a bit more deeply and slowly and as we shared bread and wine outside on the Sunday morning, we gave thanks for the journey so far and our companions who share it with us.

Sunday found us at the bandstand looking at a parachute and an umbrella.

Whilst on the walk in Blubberhouses, wrapped up against the elements Barbara said she felt like she was inside even though we were out of doors. This set her off into a train of thought about how ancient people thought of our world. Flat with a canopy of sky or stars.

We had some fun and games with the parachute and talked about being under a canopy of God’s love.

readings Isaiah 40 :22

Isaiah 4: 5 and 6

Rob Bell talks of a canopy of love in his sermon on the Song of Solomon

“From the perspective of the Scriptures, a man & a woman coming together is a picture of

God and his people coming together

– To symbolically represent this coming together, for thousands of years Jews have

taken a prayer shawl, which in the book of Numbers God commanded the people

to wear (Num. 15:38)…

– They then fastened the four corners to four poles, and the wedding attendants held

the four poles so that the couple could exchange their vows under the canopy (or

chuppah).

– Just as God ‘hovered over’ the people of Israel while they were journeying

through the wilderness… so, too, does God ‘hover over’ a marriage couple…

protecting them, journeying with them, and blessing their union.”

The symbolism used here to show that God is hovering over the couple getting married under a canopy of love can be taken further if we see the church as the bride of Christ. God is hovering over us protecting us, journeying with us and blessing our union with Jesus.

Thanksgiving  –  sharing bread and wine.

Gratitude, Praise and Thanksgiving.

Voices full and joyful.

These you deserve O Lord,

For when we had no faith and no future

You called us to be your sons and daughters.

When we lost our way or turned away

You have not abandoned us.

Your arms of love are always wide open in welcome.

And Lord you offer not just bread and wine,

But your very self……….

You are worthy of all our praise and thanksgiving.

And so we join our voices to those of the church on earth and in heaven:

Holy, Holy, Holy,

God of power and might

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest………………

And so with one voice we announce resurrection in our lives,

In this place, and in the life of our community.

So fill this bread and wine with the life of your Spirit,

And so inspire us to be a community of love and hope.

(Adapted with thanks from Iona Community liturgy)

God in

God in the trees

God in the bird song

God in the hills

God in the sunrise

God in the woods

God in the half-frozen lake

God in the park

God in the worship

God in the discussions in the pub

God in the chats in the café

God in the bread and wine

God in the fish and bread by the river

God in the silence

God in the laughter

God in the friendship

God in the sharing of meals together

God in having fun together

God in accepting each other

God in supporting each other

God in this community

God in each other

God in every act of love.

(Third Space experiences)

We began our worship with the reading of the ‘begats’ verses of Matthew 1 as explained in John Bell’s excellent book ’10 things they never told me about Jesus’. As the reading ensues, another voice interjects with details of the four women named in Jesus’ genealogy. Two, at least, were gentiles and all of them had dubious sexual pasts. This was a perfect reading for Epiphany of inclusivity, of good news for all people and it was certainly a revelation! Then we used the following:

A traditional blessing of your home at Epiphany:

The blessing of the home is an Epiphany custom. The wall beside your entrance door is marked in chalk with the year and the inscription CMB – Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which means, “Christ, bless this home.”

20+C+M+B+11

(the current year, the initials of the first words of the blessing – connected with crosses to represent the four seasons; the initials also stand for Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar – the traditional names of the wise men.)

While chalking the inscription – the following blessing is said (and you’ll see that we adapted this for ThirdSpace):

Lord God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only-begotten Son to every nation by the guidance of a star; Bless this (house and all who live here) bandstand and all who enter here. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our love for others may truly reflect your love.

May all who come to (our home) ThirdSpace this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; may we seek and serve, in everyone we meet, Jesus who is Lord forever and ever. Amen

 We prayed by laying down stones in the centre of our circle, as we named people, situations and places close to us and further afield. As each prayer was spoken we each added our own stones to endorse the prayer. By doing this we watched our prayers build up to make something substantial and strong.

For the bread and wine we used the followinf words written by Steve: 

The story of the Wise Men who travelled from afar, reminds us that God’s love incarnated in Jesus is not good news for one group of people, one class, one tribe or nation but it is good news for all people everywhere – for princes and paupers, for prostitutes and popes.  It is that good news of our redemption in Jesus which we celebrate today in this bread and wine.

Remembering our fellowship with Christians the world over, we share this bread.

Amen? AMEN!

Remembering the suffering of Christians in our world, we drink this wine.

Amen? AMEN!

 Let us go out with the CMB – Christus Mansionem Benedicat – in our thoughts, intentions and words wherever we go this week and this year. May we incarnate that blessing in our lives. AMEN

Then it was off to the cafe to share thoughts on the reading, news of our lives and to plan our weekend away. Wonderful!

We pulled out all the stops and met in the deep snow and freezing temperatures in the bandstand this morning.

Worshipped with very appropriate liturgy adapted from wellsprings.org.uk (Celtic Liturgy for Advent)

Well, the air temperature was extraordinary but the fellowship warm! Great to see Tony, Frances and Charlotte able to join us again. We kept the bandstand part fairly brief – using liturgy found on a terrific website called liturgyAT wellsprings.org.uk – which gave us an exhilarating start to Advent. We also used The Message’s version of Matthew 16:21 – 17:13 – linking the Transfiguration with the theme of Jesus’ return. We’re all doing our ‘secret santa’ type prayer activity again – secretly praying for one other person in the group (names drawn out of a hat). That feels good to do. Anyway – here are the words we used  and a picture of folk beginning to gather in a little snow – not realising what was yet to come! (And yes we are meeting this coming week in what must be getting on for two feet of snow – Bring it on!!!)

Hardy Northerners!

The Return of the King        Advent 1       2010       

We had a fresh look at the Lords prayer this week and found some amazingly uplifting paraphrases of the prayer we are all so familiar with.

A Paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer

by Sarah Dylan Breuer:

Loving Creator,

we  honour you,

and we honour all that you have made.

Renew your world

in the image of your love.

Give us what we need for today,

and a hunger to see justice done!

Strengthen us for what lies ahead;

heal us from the hurts of the past;

give us courage to follow your call.

For your love is the only power,

the only home, the only honour we need,

in this world and in the world made whole.

Amen.

A version of The Lord’s Prayer
from The New Zealand Prayer Book:

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
May the way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and harmony
sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us,

So we may also feed others.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, 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 for ever. Amen.

A Responsive Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in Heaven,
Remind us constantly that you are parent to all your children,
Whoever, or wherever they are or come from.

Hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
Establishing peace and justice, hope and life for all peoples.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Disturb us into awareness of the needs of others.

Forgive us our sins,
Our pride and our prejudices.

As we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
Especially keep our hearts and minds open
To see the good in others.

Deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
Just and true,

The power,
Gentle and fair,

And the glory,
Shot through with the colours of love,

Are yours for ever and ever.
Amen.

[From: From Shore to Shore A collection of liturgies, litanies and prayers from around the world. Pub. by USPG and SPCK. Used with permission.]

Palestinian Arabs, Christian and Muslim, have suffered for over 60 years, deprived of  their lands, left homeless and stateless, living as those who have no hope: and the church in the west has often been complicit in ignoring their plight.

Worse, we have often seemed to support the oppressor.

Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have been well served  by their leaders and governments, and we have  passed by on the other side even though it has sometimes been other Christians whom we have failed. The recent Kairos Palestine  a ‘cry from the heart of the  Palestinian Church’ largely ignored in Britain, shows how little we  appear to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

David Carter, Greenbelt speaker, of Middle East Evangelical Concern, speaks on “Holy Land Ghetto” at Café Central, Smedley Street, Matlock at  8.00pm  Wednesday, 15^th December.