The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction

of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying

That the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith,

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness,

No programme accomplishes the church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted,

knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.

This enables us to do something,and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete,

but it is a beginning, a step along the way,

an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,

but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.
Prayer of Oscar Arnulfo Romero, 1917-1980.

…the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness…

and us in to Brasenose woods, well-managed to encourage the wilds of life.

It’s the 1st Sunday in Lent. Readings about temptation, wilderness, a voice from heaven, the kingdom coming near. We learnt a new song in Homebase carpark (very ‘thin’ place, if ever there was one) while we waited for people to arrive, then headed off into the woods with directions chosen by our 4 year olds.

We followed an Iona Community wee worship, but injected our improvisation after the readings.

A tree grows. Branches form and give it shape. Each branch a decision, an intervention, an accident?

Look at a tree today, where is it’s growth? Is it pleasing? To understand why you need to have seen it grow. Trees can change, themselves, or by surgery. And there’s always the unthinkable hope of the other side, of fruit, nut, seed being reborn in new soil.

We found trees that spoke to our own stories, of self, community, faith. We marked them out in silver to reflect our hope. We looked for things we could do, and we looked for signs of things we could see happening that we just need to wait for.

See photos

(we removed the tin foil after our improvisation!)

A great Advent retreat at Offa House led by Ian Adams. Some words on what went on…

Lighting the way

• Annunciation: Do not be afraid. God is with us. Missio Dei. Perplexing.
• Baptism: Venerating fish.
• Transfiguration: Seeing people in a new light.
• Crucifixion: Sometimes all you can do is lie down with your dead God.
• Resurrection: Doubt. Disbelief. New life. What gives us hope?
• Ascension: Jesus on a plate. A gift or a loss.

…and some words on being creative

Do things your way. Be brave and make the first mark.

Thanks mayBe for a lovely, refreshing weekend.

If God is Love then maybe…

My four grandchildren will grow and grow

and reach their full potential with great joy

If God is love, then maybe all children will be valued

whether girl or boy

equality’s a word too small for living in God’s kingdom

value given quite at random

O yes! I see them walking slightly

On God’s Earth they share with all that lives and moves,

in joy, in joy!

If God is love then maybe

If God is Love then maybe…

we could have a Magnum every day

with no concern for over consumption or weight gain

they would creep up the night like Father Christmas,

open the freezer door and snick-in, like children to bed.

Waiting expectantly for the next day, when they meet their destiny.

If God is Love then maybe…

children will grow to their full potential,

fully responsible; fully imaginative,

creativity in uniqueness; breaking the rules,

respecting no limits to being creative in community;

it’s all prayer.

If God is Love then maybe…

we know love, too.

An inheritance webbed in forgotten value,

re-awakened; daring and daunting.

If God is Love then maybe…

the loving will see God

will gaze into the warm light

with whole reassurance

that they were right; love was right

more absolute than gravity or speed of light.

love was right

love is right

relief, fear of absence no more

the darkness put out with their tiny strong light.

If God is Love then maybe…

wars can be left on hold;

we can listen to greensleeves while waiting for the operator

to declare harmony down the windy clockwork phone

war is so over,

war is so last year

tweet it, tweet it big: God love is.

So here is the link: http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/

For those of you who use itunes, you can access it via the itunes shop if you search for ‘pray as you go’ (obviously it is for free).

Hope that helps!

By Doerthe

• communicating prayer online eg twitter or facebook
• writing it in your diary
• taking the time to be mindful – not always multitasking
• be content with little things, little amounts of time
• praying for each other’s concerns – perhaps have email list of words or names (no need for detail/info)
• community exploring creative simple engaged and playful living in the way of Jesus – pause prayerfully on each of the 7 elements of our calling (as footsteps, using icons on our website, as words etc) – eg use ‘O Lord Hear My Prayer’ taize chant
• wonder for mayBe community – what’s sprouted in the garden, what’s come back to life, new life? rebirth, new birth… new beginnings … look, hear, smell, touch and sing!
• when wandering around on daily travels remember to look around, wondering at simle and magnificent signs from nature
• time to make space in your life for presence – quiet and contemplative
• laughter – sings a song (hymn, chorus etc) at the top of your voice! Louder!
• time to spend more time making space for play – keep as light-hearted as a child
• pause for thought every day
• grace, space, wonder, grit, resistance, laughter, presence (the spirit of mayBe) – hold each word prayerfully for members of mayBe and others
• remember to laugh everyday!
• be thankful and focus on gratitude

Not quite everyone was there in person – especially the proud parents of the newest member of mayBe born 5am that morning.  What a beautiful way to start the year – a sign of fruitfulness and new life!

Sam

We are forged in a crucible, round and warm.
Our phoenix community; family; burgeoning.
Watching the flames, Travelling with grace.
Our prayers lifting with the smoke and light.
Laughter and gurgling rising through the dark.
And in the stillness, the coals glow, and become useful.

mayBe’s journeying cycle welcomed Benny Wenda, a West Papuan independence leader whose village was bombed by Indonesia when he was a child and many of his family were killed. Later, he began to campaign peacefully to free the West Papuan people. For this ‘crime’ he was arrested, tortured and threatened with death.

Benny and his lovely family told us about their harrowing journey, and the ongoing plight of the West Papuan people.

I felt amazed by the sheer grace and love for all people in the voice of someone so wronged. When Thomas was invited to see Jesus’ wounds it was not only so that Thomas might believe, it was that we, who have not seen them, might be transformed by believing.

Well, you can meet Benny and he’ll show you his scars if you ask. But he’d rather talk about hope and the future. Again, we can be part of that transformation. If you’ve got ten minutes, read about what’s happening. If you’ve got ten pounds, the Free West Papua campaign will put it to good use.

Rich

As part of our Sunday Eucharist improvisation in our engagement cycle, we – yes, all of us! – wrote this sestina. Thanks Rachel for leading us in this. Each verse is about one engagement hero: William Wilberforce, St Francis, Jesus, Julian of Norwich, Florence Nightingale, Activists.

Bred
from the upper class, a gravelled
accent speaking. Against the throes of leaving
the souls
of nations passed. He changed
a lifetime’s mourning to give a chance to the Earth.

He taught us to love the earth,
to drink the wine and eat the bread.
In this comes change.
The mix of life, flower and gravel
Held and transformed, skin and soul
Love left to us, for us to leave.

He had the courage; his father, his mother, his old faith to leave.
Like us, his body, his talk, part of the earth.
The people he met he nurtured their soul,
Until they broke his body like bread,
Then laid it shattered like us in the gravel.
So much suffering before, like him, we change.

In loving death-throes she sought to change,
Her all-well spirit, hurled, lost in fallen leaves.
With famished last-rites, she swallowed Christ’s hard gravel,
Her body longing to return to the earth.
Then wrapped in passion she saw her lover in the bread
Healing all in flesh; the risen kindness in her soul.

As a young girl, she felt a shining in her soul,
A call to be a healer, a call to bring change,
Breaking the boundaries of man and woman, poor and well-bred.
She had a comfortable home, but found the courage to leave.
Woman once more co-helper on God’s Earth.
A landslide began when she moved her piece of gravel.

They moved us from coils of confusion, to seeing hope in gravel,
They taught us to look for wells of change within our souls.
For the good of the Earth, for all the peoples of the Earth.
From morals to ethics to action to change,
From earth to root, to trunk, branch, leaves,
From flour and yeast, kneading, warmth to bread.

The rough Earth turns with a gravelled
groan. Crumbling crust of bread becomes a perfect soul,
eternally changing to reveal fresh new leaves.

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