Conversation, conviviality and communion .......
This Sunday past we held a Cafe Style Church in Shotley Fields.
Coffee and Bacon Sandwiches, followed by a meditation on the Lord's Prayer.
Sung, read aloud, signed and concluding with distribution of this familiar prayer translated as emojis which was then printed as Bookmarks and shared.
I had my leg pulled by the congregation because I was typecast in a mini drama as God, constantly interrupting someone who was praying the prayer, as we all do, a bit by rote, a bit sub-consciously through familiarity and a bit repetitively through practise.
Focusing on one prayer, repeating it in different forms, modes, translations and usages could have been risky, the potential for boredom hurdle was probably set quite low but by the end most people had learnt something, most people had renewed their interest in this ancient, biblical, family prayer of the Church understood in its widest and most commonly used form.
And Bacon Sandwiches always help .......
Worship does need to be refreshed and renewed.
The reality of life in today's church is that we have an overabundance of buildings, a shortage of ministers, fewer people attending and more administration.
Cafe Church didn't need an ordained minister, the service was led by Laity, although there were two ordained ministers in the congregation who could have been better employed elsewhere, although I quite enjoyed my role in the drama.
Praying, as the script said is a dangerous thing people can end up changed.
And maybe change is exactly what we need.
Over my 50 years there have been a variety of what are inevitably called 'New' expressions, new ways of being church, new ways of keeping the show on the road, new liturgies, new orders for the Eucharist, new Eucharistic Prayers, new attempts to remove obstacles to belief, attendance, commitment, sometimes the barriers have been lowered, sometimes they have been raised. But the general direction has remained constant.
Fewer weekly attendances, fewer communicants, fewer confirmations.
Which is what makes Shotley Fields unusual.
As we prepare for our annual Arts Festival and our annual Beer Festival I return again to the concept of Conviviality as a key to mission.
Interdiac define conviviality as the 'art and practice' of living together:
The idea that that people become who they are through their relationships with other people ....... but also with significant shaping organisations and institutions ...... that people are ecologically formed through these diverse relationships ...... this also relates to the imagined communities to which they belong and their faith relationship and tradition .......
The essence of our community relationships, the fellowship that is generated, the sense that people actually like each other and opt to share each others company make for a congregation that gathers for worship on a Sunday morning but unlike in some churches of my experience, rather than the whole enterprise being an inverted pyramid balanced on one hour on a Sunday morning the base of the pyramid rests on the conviviality that is shared and celebrated in a whole host of ways through the activities that are celebrated throughout the year.
As Interdiac comment in the paper I am referring to:
the primary reference is not to professional practise but to everyday life, as people meet across different divisions .... trust is built and perhaps leads to common action ..... preparing and sharing food which may lead also to deeper conversation and trust building .......
Conviviality is I believe the key to maintaining, building, celebrating our common life as a Christian community.
So the day that started with Bacon Sandwiches and Coffee ended with Cranmer's Eucharistic written in 1662 followed by Bar Church and a convivial conversation over beer about Brexit .......
Coffee and Bacon Sandwiches, followed by a meditation on the Lord's Prayer.
Sung, read aloud, signed and concluding with distribution of this familiar prayer translated as emojis which was then printed as Bookmarks and shared.
I had my leg pulled by the congregation because I was typecast in a mini drama as God, constantly interrupting someone who was praying the prayer, as we all do, a bit by rote, a bit sub-consciously through familiarity and a bit repetitively through practise.
Focusing on one prayer, repeating it in different forms, modes, translations and usages could have been risky, the potential for boredom hurdle was probably set quite low but by the end most people had learnt something, most people had renewed their interest in this ancient, biblical, family prayer of the Church understood in its widest and most commonly used form.
And Bacon Sandwiches always help .......
Worship does need to be refreshed and renewed.
The reality of life in today's church is that we have an overabundance of buildings, a shortage of ministers, fewer people attending and more administration.
Cafe Church didn't need an ordained minister, the service was led by Laity, although there were two ordained ministers in the congregation who could have been better employed elsewhere, although I quite enjoyed my role in the drama.
Praying, as the script said is a dangerous thing people can end up changed.
And maybe change is exactly what we need.
Over my 50 years there have been a variety of what are inevitably called 'New' expressions, new ways of being church, new ways of keeping the show on the road, new liturgies, new orders for the Eucharist, new Eucharistic Prayers, new attempts to remove obstacles to belief, attendance, commitment, sometimes the barriers have been lowered, sometimes they have been raised. But the general direction has remained constant.
Fewer weekly attendances, fewer communicants, fewer confirmations.
Which is what makes Shotley Fields unusual.
As we prepare for our annual Arts Festival and our annual Beer Festival I return again to the concept of Conviviality as a key to mission.
Interdiac define conviviality as the 'art and practice' of living together:
The idea that that people become who they are through their relationships with other people ....... but also with significant shaping organisations and institutions ...... that people are ecologically formed through these diverse relationships ...... this also relates to the imagined communities to which they belong and their faith relationship and tradition .......
The essence of our community relationships, the fellowship that is generated, the sense that people actually like each other and opt to share each others company make for a congregation that gathers for worship on a Sunday morning but unlike in some churches of my experience, rather than the whole enterprise being an inverted pyramid balanced on one hour on a Sunday morning the base of the pyramid rests on the conviviality that is shared and celebrated in a whole host of ways through the activities that are celebrated throughout the year.
As Interdiac comment in the paper I am referring to:
the primary reference is not to professional practise but to everyday life, as people meet across different divisions .... trust is built and perhaps leads to common action ..... preparing and sharing food which may lead also to deeper conversation and trust building .......
Conviviality is I believe the key to maintaining, building, celebrating our common life as a Christian community.
So the day that started with Bacon Sandwiches and Coffee ended with Cranmer's Eucharistic written in 1662 followed by Bar Church and a convivial conversation over beer about Brexit .......
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