Chapel outdoors

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Beyond the chapel door there are lots of places to choose for an outdoor chapel opportunity. There’s the playground, where we once danced ‘Lord of the dance’ and a piece of grass where we once did ‘The Enormous Turnip ‘.
This school year I was determined to hold chapel outdoors sometimes after reading about The Forest Church Movement. I love to worship in the open air myself so I really wanted to introduce this option more regularly. I also wanted to emphasise that we don’t just do chapel in chapel.
So far this term (currently it’s week 5) we’ve had Preschool Chapel Storytime outside, in their own playground. We did a circle story about a boat in a stormy sea making the wind and waves together followed by some songs.
We also had years 1 and 2 chapel outside when we did the Jesus life line string game. I have described this activity before: you need a long bit of string and some pegs. We put pegs on the string together as we remember things from Jesus’ life.
Today we had chapel for years 3 to 6 outside on the grass tennis court (no tennis happening at the time). It was a bit last minute as I had only discovered the chapel was not available 10 minutes before we were due to start.
We did a rather bigger circle activity with about 60 children in the circle. As we sang the song ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands ‘ We passed a world around the circle. It was quite windy but nothing like Haiti so we spent a moment thinking of children there and in other parts if the Caribbean experiencing extreme weather conditions today. Then we threw the ball to each other as we prayed for people and places we are concerned about: our families, our school, children in other countries including Syria and Pakistan and homeless people were some if them.
It was about 10 minutes altogether but enough to mark the end if the school day.

On our school and on our working
The help of God

Tweeting in Chapel

Today we had opportunity to BYOD to Sixth Form Chapel to take advantage of the new WiFi network.
Over the summer, what with blogging and wotnot, I’ve been doing a lot more tweeting. I’ve found it has helped to calm me down at times. At other times it has been very informative and motivating.
There’s a number of strands to my tweeting: the natural world, peace, prayer, social and community action and of course humourless . It has also helped me to stay in touch with more friends including @FPFoecumenisme in Paris.
The best link has been to @Dangerouswomenproject.org based in Edinburgh which has been tweeting about lost, forgotten or overlooked women and women’s issues. It has been brilliant and very uplifting. I’ve even submitted a couple of items including one about Madge Saunders, Jamaican pioneer of intercultural ministry.
So this morning Tim, our senior chapel steward, spoke about the Duke of Edinburgh Award and Alex, senior student for antibullying spoke about working with the Diana Award. I spoke about the campaign by UNICEF, #childrenfirst.
In the 90years or so that chapel has been there this was the first tweeting service. We hope to have some more.

In our life and our believing
The love of God

New appointment

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An announcement this weekend by The Unchurch Times confirms the appointment of a Bishop to the newly created Diocese of Boncaster. Reverend Dr Janet Lees, currently Chaplain at Silcoates School will take up her new post on 1st January 2017, when her current post with the URC Yorkshire Synod ends.
Looking forward to the future Dr Lees said today ‘I am thrilled to be appointed to this new post beyond the church as it currently defines itself’.
The aim of the post is to allow the post holder to focus all her time on people who are not presently attracted to the church and those who have already left. In spite of the large numbers of people who have left the mainstream British churches over the last century the churches themselves have only really produced half hearted attempts at walking in faith with those beyond the churches. Fewer and fewer ministries in the declining denominations are set aside for work of this kind with financial restrictions given as the main reason for such limitations and comments like ‘no one else does it like this anymore’ indicating a fundamental lack of vision.
With the decision not to renew her post in the church, Dr Lees said she welcomes the opportunity this presents to join the unchurched. She looks forward to discovering more about the spirituality of her fellow travellers and what sustains others on their journeys outside ecclesiastical structures.
The Diocese of Boncaster has no geographical boundaries which might seem daunting, but Dr Lees, already known as the Roving Rev after her recent walk along the Cleveland Way, is excited by the invitation. ‘Jesus said Come with me. He didn’t say: Stop right there, don’t go any further’.
Mindful of the vibrant early Christian missionary history in the north of England she is intending to concentrate her travels there initially and will serve as Bishop of Boncaster for the Unchurched alongside the Chaplaincy at Silcoates thanks to the generosity of the school.
‘You’d be amazed what you can see from the Chapel door’ she confirmed. Having entertained the BFG earlier this week she feels this is confirmation of God’s call to this post. ‘I am looking forward to many further similar encounters’ Dr Lees stated enthusiastically.

In our life and our believing
The love of God

Giant at the Chapel door

It was wonderful to have the real BFG visit chapel today. It was such fun.

The BFG is looking for another place to live as he’s a bit lonely in Giantland. He got a giant welcome. The children loved interacting with him. At the chapel door they wanted to hold his hand or give him a high 5 (or was that a 4?)

The jokes came thick and fast and the adults enjoyed it as much as the children. It was a Chapel for Juniors but some visiting members of the Sixth Form also enjoyed it.

There was time for a final chorus of Happy Birthday before the BFG was off for a lie down on the cricket pitch. He said he’d come back. We’re already looking forward to it.

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In our life and our believing
The love of God

Not there

Did you go to church today?

Me neither.

Of course I’ve been in Chapel all week, but that doesn’t always count in the church-based world view. Not there for the one hour Sunday club means ‘lost’.

Only you and I know it doesn’t. It might mean frustrated, angry, feeling excluded, busy, neglected, bored, being creative elsewhere, outside, praying alone, or thousands of other things.

Unfortunately the inside of the church is not very interested in what those on the outside are doing, particularly not for the all important one hour a week.

On my list of creative worshipful options available today I have: go for a walk, pick plums, cook, write, read, listen, think, explore.

I remembered an encounter between Jesus and some would-be disciples. ‘They ask him ‘Where do you live?’ He replies ‘Come and see’. I’m a come and see person. There’s so much to come and see everywhere.

So today, I’m not there. I’m outside: come and see.

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God of the open door, turn us inside out:

May everyday count as much as one day.

This is the day, and we are ready to serve God today.

Longdendale Valley Walk

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Living here for over a decade, I have long thought that Psalm 23 is the psalm for this Valley. The valley stretches from the village of Hadfield up towards Woodhead Pass and is occupied by a chain of reservoirs built over 150 years ago to provide a water supply to Manchester. If you have ever taken the A628 you will have travelled along it but there are quieter parts and calmer places in the valley. I often walk and pray here and psalm 23 is often in my mind when I do.

The Lord is my Shepherd
The valley is a sheep place. They are all around in the fields and escapees are sometimes on the road as well. As I sit listening I can hear a Shepherd working the nearby flock with his dog: ‘come by’ he calls.

I shall not want. He makes me walk in green pastures and leads me by still waters and restores my soul, guiding my steps on the right paths
The walk today is along part of the Longdendale Trail, a disused railway line, and back along the otherside of the reservoirs: Rhodeswood, Valehouse and Bottoms. There are green pastures and still waters a plenty. Walking is one of my preferred activities and I do find it restorative providing a rhythm to help me stop ruminating on things running round my head.

Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall not be afraid for you are with me
After a short detour from my usual path I come across the entrance to an old tunnel under the line of the old railway. It is lined with stone marked by grafitti, and the entrance is mossy and surrounded by brambles. I have not been here before. As I enter the tunnel, which of course is dark, I notice it slopes downwards. I can see the light at the end and more brambles framing the other entrance.

Your rod and staff they comfort me
I step into the tunnel and use my stick to help me to negotiate the dark and slightly slippery route to the other end. The sound of it tapping on the stones echoes back to me in a reassuring way.

You have prepared a table in the presence of my enemies and filled my cup to the brim
Just before the tunnel I stopped at a tea shop. I’ve not been to it before although it has been open a while. It is an old farmhouse and there is a terrace of inviting tables. I choose a toasted tea cake oozing with melted butter and feel very welcome. A glass of cold tap water, made up of those minuscule molecules on which all life depends, completes my banquet.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall live in God’s house forever.
A few late speckled wood Butterflies dance along the path. Faded with fraying wings, they signal that summer really is ending. The heather has finished blooming and whilst the foliage is mostly still green, here and there rusty spikes of dock and browned bracken frame the path heralding the next season. I will enjoy walking this way again with the vault of the sky above me and the well trodden path beneath my feet, remembering this Psalm, amongst others.

In our coming and our going
The Peace of God

New timetable, same Hours

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It’s week two of term and we’re gradually getting the hang of the new timetable. It means slight changes in timing of some beginnings and endings during the school day. It also means some changes about who comes to chapel and when.
Before school we still have our short chapel service for senior school year groups. This service lasts about ten minutes and is the way we start the day. Sometimes there’s a short lunchtime chapel usually for younger age groups. New this year is an afternoon chapel for Juniors in the middle of the week.
From my first day at school seven years ago, I introduced the idea the Remembered Bible (RB) which is an oral strategy of biblical retelling. This results in conversations about the Bible at various times and in different places not confined to chapel.

The other foundation of our chapel activity comes from patterns shared in communities old and newer. To have worship together in the morning is something common to many communities, as are the lunchtime offices. Now we have added an end of afternoon gathering which is another common time for worship together. To stand at the door in the morning, at lunchtime or the end of the afternoon and smile or speak to the young people as the leave chapel is a moment that makes my spirit soar. There may be a new timetable to get the hang of but we share these Hours with many other communities and that is a good feeling.

On our school and on our working
The help of God

Lost (again)

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Almost as soon as we stepped into the park at Flamingo Land yesterday, Dad and I were lost. I was pushing the wheelchair and he was holding the map, but the map didn’t seem to bare much relationship to what we saw in front of us. So we muddled along, which is what a lot of people do when they are lost.

All around us there were other people who were either lost, trying not to look lost or not lost. These three states of lostness are common in any group of people. The not lost ones are confident and feel at home. The trying not to look lost ones are doing just that. Feeling judged already, trying not to look lost is about keeping up appearances with the not lost. The lost are usually obvious: they the look at the map a lot, they enquire, they pause a lot.

Once we found the rhinos we were OK. We stayed there watching these large lumbering mammals for a bit. Although we had not been looking for them we were glad to find them. If anyone asked where we were we now knew we were ‘at the rhinos’. We admired them for quite a while in a calm and companionable way. We had moved on from being lost to being not lost. Now we just had the rest of the day to negotiate.

Today was Sunday, and with that in mind I set off on a walk around Marsh in Huddersfield. I couldn’t be lost there because I live there and have done for eight years. But I rarely go off my usual routes and most of Marsh is a mystery to me. I was making for the Co-op in a roundabout way. I decided to try to make it last and followed up any likely looking side roads or paths. The back streets of Marsh are a maze of ginnels which are a particularly Yorkshire way of helping a person in any of the three states of lostness  negotiate their way around an area. They are small passageways between houses. Some lead somewhere, some don’t. In Marsh there’s plenty of both. Two and a half miles later, a tour of the Co-op and a certain amount of time divided up between the three states of lostness and I was home again.

There was a moment when my exploring had taken me through a small wooded patch to a drop down onto the main Halifax road from a height of about four feet. Even I call tell this was proper lost. Unless you are proper lost it’s not wise to take such a leap. I retraced my steps and sure enough another path appeared that lead me out onto the same road by a safer route. See, I wasn’t lost after all.

The three states of lostness are about identity. What has been happening to me for the last two years has been about identity. When I work with the children and young people, they are often exploring their identity. It’s not all about ‘who am I?’ Sometimes it’s about ‘am I lost?’

On the Cleveland Way this summer, I was rarely lost (once on a housing estate in Skelton, but soon found again by someone who recognised my lostness and helped me to repair it). It was a well marked route, even if remote, and marked by bold, brazen signposts. There were signposts in Flamingo Land, orange ones, and sometimes they helped. Marsh is a familiar place, but it’s still possible to find yourself four foot above a busy road wondering if you are lost.

So, am I lost then?. Sometimes and it is a common state. This week young people came back to Chaplaincy to talk about matters of life and all sorts of lostness. I didn’t offer them a map or show them a ginnel. I listened and said I’d be there again if they wanted to come back. In any of the three states of lostness, companionship is usually all you can offer.

At the chapel door

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This is the first week of the academic year and we meet together in chapel in different age groups during the week. Our theme is ‘Welcome to the Adventure’. There’s opportunity to review the Ardeche Adventure I took part in at the beginning of July when we were doing all kinds of activities . In this afternoon’s welcome service for about a hundred children aged about 6 to 10, I explained how my story of getting stuck in a hole in a cave reminded the Headmaster of the story of Winnie the Pooh getting stuck in a hole. It’s central to our way of remembering and retelling the Bible with each other that one person’s story will connect with something remembered by someone else.
I asked if anyone could think of a story in which Jesus seemed to be involved in an adventure? Straight away a child offered a response: when Jesus met some people who had been fishing but had not caught anything. So I asked why that story seemed like an adventure?
Another child’s hand went up: ‘Well actually Jesus didn’t know those fishermen and so when he spoke to them and told them how to catch fish they didn’t know what would happen and that’s an adventure because you don’t know what’s going to happen on an adventure.’
We agreed that we didn’t know what would happen during this school year. We will travel on together like those who went with Jesus, and see what happens.
At the end if the service I always try to stand by the door and speak to the children as they leave. One gave me a hug and told me I did remind him of Winnie the Pooh, but he thought that was a nice thing to be.
Then another child told me: ‘I thought of another story of Jesus having an adventure. It’s when Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days and the devil tries to make him do things he doesn’t want to do’. I can already see we will have plenty of connecting stories to tell each other.

Standing at the chapel door I can see in towards the open Bible on the table and out to follow the direction taken by the children as they leave and get on with the day. It’s the ideal place to keep a vigil and pray.

In our life and our believing
The love of God

Even the dogs

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‘Even the dogs have a better life’ said a 17 year old Syrian refugee currently living in The Jungle camp in Calais in a news interview today.

Even the dogs get the crumbs:
A warm hearth, food and love.
Even the dogs are valued more,
Receive care, get exercise.
Even the dogs are treated better
Than some human beings:
From baskets and biscuits
To tuxedos, treats and toys,
fancy dress costumes and games:
Some dogs have all the luck.

We who walk dogs need to walk a day in your shoes.
We who sit at the table need to consider what life is like under the table.

Table-wise God,
Change us to people
Who warmly give refuge rather than reject the refuge seekers.