Sanctus1 Blog

Post-Greenbelt social

2008-08-26T15:38:00.001+01:00

Instead of having a "normal" Wednesday night this week, we're having a post-GB social upstairs at the Cornerhouse (near Oxford Rd station) from 7.30pm.

See you there?

Tonight, and Greenbelt

2008-08-20T08:54:00.005+01:00

Tonight's service starts at 7.30 in Nexus and features a saggy old cloth cat. Come along and find out what the heck I'm talking about...!

(photo from last year's Sanctus1 main stage communion)

Then over the weekend, lots of the community are going to Greenbelt. Sanctus1 (Sun 10pm) and Sanctus2nds (Sat 10am) are both doing services in New Forms. It'd be good to see you there.

Next week - a saggy old cloth cat...

2008-08-14T10:27:00.003+01:00

Yep you read it right - next Wednesday is a service involving the most important... the most beautiful... the most magical... saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world!

Nexus, Wed 20 Aug, 7.30pm. Feel free to bring memorabilia.

"No More Rain" - the campaign for a better, brighter summer

2008-08-12T18:31:00.003+01:00

This thunderstorm caused me to get drenched and a leak to appear in our office ceiling... boo! Rain, rain go away - and don't come back...

quote unqoute

2008-08-11T11:13:00.003+01:00

This is nearly as good as that David Beckham one about wanting to get Brooklyn christened, but they weren't sure into which religion...

Come rain or shine, it's never too early to start checking...

2008-08-07T11:45:00.002+01:00

Blah...Manchester with Tom Sine

2008-08-01T15:05:00.003+01:00

�The New Conspirators� with Tom Sine.

We are excited to announce that Tom Sine will be coming to Manchester this Autumn. He�ll be spending 24hrs with us where we�ll be exploring his recently published book �The New Conspirators�, discovering more about him and learning about the hopeful mustard seeds that are being sown here in Manchester.

This non residential conference will take place at the Nazarene college in Manchester (Dene Road, Didsbury, M20 2GU) from 30th Sept until 1st October. There will be three sessions during our time together plus plenty of time for networking and discovering more about what God is doing in the North West.

30th September, 15:00 - 17:00. Session 1: Travelling in Turbulent Times with the New Conspirators.

30th September, 19:00 - 21:00: Session 2: Taking Turbulent Times Seriously.

1st October, 10:00 - 12:30: Session 3: The imagination of the Future.

For more information about the sessions click see here

Book online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/144262493

Alternatively send a cheque made payable to CMS to: Alice Morgan, CMS, Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ and include a covering note stating that the cheque is for the Tom Sine event in Manchester.

Cleaning up?

2008-07-30T23:32:00.002+01:00

We were talking in the pub tonight about regeneration and the dispersal of people to make places prettier. �Which led me to thinking about the Olympics, notorious for 'cleaning up' homeless people and others less than desirable to the image the hosts want to present. �Which reminded me of the new Amnesty campaign about the forthcoming Chinese olympics:

Tomorrow...

2008-07-29T16:01:00.002+01:00

Advance notice that tomorrow night is a service-style event at Nexus from 7.30pm, run by a small group of members from the community.

The main point of exploration for the service is the creation-destruction-recreation idea that we came out of the scratch service a few weeks back, and was blogged here.

See you there? You'd be very welcome.

Amazing photo

2008-07-20T01:09:00.001+01:00

Really quite impressive!

...Lev

Best Casual Dining

2008-07-17T14:26:00.003+01:00

Well done to Nexus just for being nominated in the MFDF Food and Drink awards!

Now let's make sure it's a win...

UPDATE - vote **here** for Nexus! Go on - two clicks of your mouse, that's all it is...

Youth outreach: keep them out of trouble

2008-07-14T12:56:00.002+01:00

An Oklahoma baptist church plans to give away an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle during a youth conference - a move described as "a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event", according to a local news station.

Words fail me.

Next-to-nothingness | We're all made of stars

2008-07-10T12:57:00.006+01:00

I just wanted to say I loved last night.

We all contributed to making a service from scratch in a night. It was on the theme of creation/ Genesis 1 and we used any/ all resources and materials to hand. And having planned a section of the worship in small groups, we then worshipped together using all of that at the end of the evening. A great example of what can be made out of next-to-nothingness when working together.

Here's the bones of what we did:

Candle lighting

I light this light in the name of the Maker, who made the sun and the moon, the day and the night.
I light this light in the name of the Redeemer, who is the Light of the World and shows us the way.
I light this light in the name of the Sustainer, the living flame, who burns within us and throughout the world.
We light these lights for the Trinity of love and light. Amen.

Introduction/ reflection on the theme

An edited retelling of the opening sections of Genesis, whilst hanging a map of the world on a washing line, and then other postcard images of people, animals, plants, landscapes. We were then invited to go forward and add something to this line in response to "creation".

There was a reflection and duscussion on the themes of creation/ destruction and some concepts emerged:
- the cycle of creation-destruction-recreation
- the image of the bread broken to share in newness of life
- cells dividing to multiply
- tiles being smashed to make a mosaic
- God destroying nothingness to create somethingness

Finally, we were invited to consider the images of God's "second start" through the flood, and Noah sending out the bird in hope of finding land... We were then able to make an origami bird to symbolise our own flight of hope for finding creation out of destruction.

Confession and absolution

We explored this through the image of brokenness (personal, social, environmental) that is given later in Genesis - taking and eating the fruit. We wrote confessions of brokenness on the back of paper apples, and then remembering that the seed has to die to grow anew, we tore our apples in half (and cut a real apple and planted its seed) as a symbol of God's promise of newness and hope. We finished with a reading of Matthew's telling of the story about the mustard seed that eventually grows to be a home to the birds.

Bread and wine

A simple help-yourself station with two sheets of paper to allow people to write a response as they took bread and wine.

Prayers

A set of prayers themed around the Genesis paragraphs about the sun, moon and stars:
- remembering people who've died
- listening to Moby's We're all made of stars
- considering humanity's divine intention to prosper - thinking of those "stars" who govern our country and world, praying for people, situations, places by writing on paper stars

Blessing
An adaptation of a Northumbria blessing

Candles...
...and an invitation to take on the service at the end of the month having seen how easy it is to create something out of next-to-nothingness. Be in touch about that.

A truth

2008-07-08T11:39:00.002+01:00

Doing nothing wrong

2008-07-07T14:46:00.006+01:00

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the number of cases of people being harassed, arrested, having cameras, film and memory cards confiscated by police (or more commonly, PCSOs) for the heinous crime of taking photographs in public. After all, the police can take photos of us.

There was the case of the Welsh bus fanatic who liked to sit and wait to see what type of bus would come around the corner (as opposed to most people, who would wait to see _if_ a bus would come around the corner) who was accused of being a terrorist and a paedophile.

This case was about someone taking photos in Hull who was "detained" by a store security guard.

This video clip has a rather good example of how undertrained PCSOs confront a videographer who was trying to take footage in a public street. It starts with a sudden gloved hand over the camera lens, then it's "give me a good reason why you're filming," then, alarmingly, he is asked to produce his ID (didn't know that was required yet), and when photographer asks what law he is breaking, the response is: "shut up."

To be clear, there is no UK law against taking photographs or video footage in a public space. If you are in a private building (including a railway station) or are taking pictures of military installations (which does not include police cars) then there are restrictions. But there should be nothing to stop you taking pictures in Piccadilly Gardens (for example) at any time of day or night.

Ben Kinsella and "No knives!"

2008-07-03T23:47:00.003+01:00

The video clip that is contained within this link, strikes me as very moving. I've watched it a couple of times and each time I'm struck by the lack of commentary; just the silence march punctured by the chant:

"Who are we here for?"
"Ben"
"Why are we here?"
"No knives!"

Hundreds of white topped relatives and friends marching for their dead kin. Peacefully making their way forward, powerfully making their point.

Moving stuff!

...Lev

Shared food and service

2008-07-01T18:10:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow night (Wed 2 July, from 7.30pm at Nexus), we're sharing in a meal and exploring faith journeys through a short service, especially in relation to Ben's recent ordination.

Do join us - you'd be very welcome.

What were they thinking?

2008-06-30T15:25:00.003+01:00

Surely someone can figure it out?

...Lev

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce... the Rev Ben Edson

2008-06-30T10:35:00.002+01:00

How long can you survive in the cold vacuum of space?

2008-06-20T12:40:00.002+01:00

Click here to find out.

I managed to survive for 1 minute 23 seconds, with truthful answers.

Enough

2008-06-13T09:34:00.001+01:00

' He [David Davis] could face opposition from the Sun newspaper, whose former editor Kelvin MacKenzie said he may stand, backed by Rupert Murdoch, if Labour did not field a candidate.

Mr MacKenzie told the BBC earlier there were two reasons for running: "One is that the Sun is very, very hostile to David Davis because of his 28-day stand, and the Sun has always been up for 42 days, or perhaps even 420 days, frankly." '

(BBC)

This is what I'm talking about...

2008-06-12T09:49:00.003+01:00

Too much to blog, too little time...

Last night, we kept up the Colossians exploration and looked for markers of 21C empire - power, control, myths and images - and ways to subvert them. My favourite moment was listening to the number of sentences that started with "You know, they say that...". Who exactly *are* "they"? That's a myth and control mechanism right there. We talked about Banksy and The Matrix - you can work out why - and ended with a glimmer of hope.

On not such a different note, I want to note the use of the DUP to get a 9 vote majority on the 42 day detention vote. In the Guardian this morning, Simon Hoggart indicates that the consciences of MPs have long been available for purchase on eBay, so this deal-making with the PM is nowt new... What's worrying me is that legislation (if it gets through) seems like it's going to have an impact on liberty for all of us.

Additionally, Andrew Collins mentions on his blog that he's been "stop-and-searched" twice in six months now. This also disturbs me - I don't think I know anyone who has been. Maybe that says more about me, than the police policy...

And of course, from the serious to the seriously trivial, congrats to the lovely Lee McQueen. That's what I'm talking about!

Let this be enough...

2008-06-11T12:28:00.007+01:00

Cheryl's only gone and done it again and written something that might as well be aimed at my heart... love it, and love her. Thanks.

You can also now get her liturgy book at Proost.

Colossians Remixed

2008-06-05T13:14:00.003+01:00

It was a pleasure and a privilege to have Sylvia and Brian with us last night exploring Colossians through their own fine book, Colossians Remixed. They were challenging, funny, pointed and generous - depsite being asked if they were Americans! ;-) And yes I know some people actually gasped out loud when we had to get the Bibles out and read a whole book... shock horror.

Mainly, they gave an overview as to how Paul subverts the culture, economics, images and symbols of the Roman Empire through this letter to the church in Colossae. And in particular, the passage chapter 1, v15-20 being an undoing/ reworking of those Empire values to those of Christ. Brian riffed on those verses at the end, giving a 21C cultural response to the book, contextualising it for us. Looking at them again in the Message today, I was also struck by their layers of meaning and reference:

15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels�everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

18-20He was supreme in the beginning and�leading the resurrection parade�he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe�people and things, animals and atoms�get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

I've got big shoes to fill - I'm doing next week as a follow up (gulp). So expect more on this theme and what is 21C Empire if you're coming along...

Subverting the Empire - Blah Manchester

2008-06-04T08:18:00.001+01:00

This Thursday we have Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat leading a Blah...Mcr day for us in the city centre. Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat, are the authors of Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire present a day's teaching.

If you haven't read the book or think that a bible commentary sounds a bit dull think again. It is one of the best books those of us involved in blah... have read for some time. Brian and Sylvia are based in Canada so this is a rare chance to hear and meet them. doing three dates around the UK and they'll be in Mcr on the 5th June under the title of 'Colossians Remixed'! Book here cost is �15 for the entire day, times and venue on the booking site...