We are not alone

Driving into Laird Street in Birkenhead on Sunday, we felt an all too depressing feeling of familiarity. In many ways, we could have been in Openshaw.

We had written a reflection based upon the demolitions which have now started behind my home - and as we drove round the block to get back to the overshot car park, there we found demolitions which had started behind the church.

We began the service with our prayer "Grumpy Old Church" - a reflection on the fact that we do get cross sometimes - even cross with God when we believe that we have been faithful, but don't seem to receive any reward.

And the good folk of Birkenhead seemed to respond with a very loud "Amen!"

We moved into an all-age activity, based upon the idea that we - and God - have many, sometimes contradictory faces. As we were doing it, one older member of the congregation approached me, "We don't do this sort of thing in church," she said, apparently disapprovingly, before adding with a grin, "You've moved us on twenty years in five minutes!"

We came away with the feeling that the minister had invited us because he is frustrated at how worship does not reflect the reality of the context in which they are worshipping - and that the church welcomed us because they desperately wanted the opportunity to worship in a way which reflects the - very tough - reality of the context in which they are worshipping!

Perhaps there is a god after all?

Dancing Stories

The original idea for Dancing Scarecrow was as a home for our Godly Play resources. Then we realised that what we do isn't strictly speaking "Godly Play" - which has a very strict methodology. Then we got caught up with trying to get all the new prayers up onto the site - which we have still failed to do!

However, as we have started travelling around the country for worship, we do realise that there is a need for imaginative resources for storytelling for all ages.

So we have now got round to photographing - and putting online the first few of our story scripts strongly influenced by, but not limited to the Godly Play methodology! Not surprisingly, we are not calling them that. We've adopted the term "Dancing Stories" instead.

Enjoy

Still Alive

Finally, after some two months of inactivity (at least blog-wise) I have spent this afternoon adding another twenty or so prayers to www.dancingscarecrow.org.uk

We are now well into our travelling wandering race act, and this Sunday will be taking a godly play to Cragg Hill in Leeds. I really need to get the Godly Play scripts page up and running. Maybe tomorrow?

Things They Don't Teach You at Theology College

Between us, we have worked out, that Clare and I have no fewer than 20 years of university education - the vast majority of it in theology.
And yet, as we sat in the car park at Mersey Street, waiting for the final skip to arrive, we couldn't help but muse upon the fact that nothing in our academic backgrounds had prepared us for the events of closing the church.
On my first Sunday at Mersey Street - when still a student - St Ida, the then church treasurer - accosted me and told me that I was going to break into one of the congregation's house and help to break up her marriage!
There was a back story of violence and abuse, but I prefer to leave the story as it is for dramatic effect.
A couple of weeks later, I was sent up onto the church roof to try and waterproof the neon cross which was showing signs of leaking. Narrowly avoiding electrocution, I mused on the fact that ministry in Openshaw was not something that Northern Baptist College had really prepared me for.
Fifteen years on, I think I was right.
Incidentally, in the photo, Clare is reading the papers for her NHS board meeting this week.

You Couldn't Make it Up!

According to the Vanderbilt University Lectionary Site, the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday is 2 Samuel 7:1-14a. For those who don't recall these verses, let me quote:

7:5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?

7:6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.

Now, how on earth do we make that relevant to our situation?

Hmmm...

The church is not a building...

...the church is the people!

I doubt many congregations ever get to live out the words of the much loved children's song, "I am the church, you are the church" (with actions) and actually leave their building and worldly possessions behind but that is what we did symbolically and publicly on Sunday afternoon when we had the closing service for our building on Mersey Street. At the end of the month we will have a smaller gathering in the car park in which we will actually hand over the keys to the city council's regeneration team so that they can knock the building down and turn it into housing.

A week earlier we had asked the church including our children what they wanted to do as a closing service - so much for our plans of something a little more formal and dignified for our many guests. What the church wanted was a typical Sunday service complete with a play story, craft activities, pictures and pop music and everyone participating!

So our many guests, many of whom could remember back far further into our congregation's history that we could, were treated to a looking back and looking forward service in which Beth and Imogen (7 and 8 years) enthusiastically walked the congregation along our church's timeline which they had drawn as a long winding road and marked on the significant moments in the story complete with lots of photographs from different eras which they had added to the display. At the end of the road leading into the future, was plenty of space which the congregation were invited to fill with post-it note roadsigns expressing their hopes and dreams for us as a community as we continue our life together and our ministry in this community without a building for the foreseeable future.

Joel (age 10) treated us all to The Beatles, "The Long and Winding Road" complete with a slide show of pictures of the church's life past and present. We reflected on the Biblical story of Ruth's promise to Naomi through a play story using various objects such as shoes and tents to remind us of our promise to journey together. But for me the most moving part was the liturgy "Where you go I will go" which Tim wrote and Andrew (our Baptist Regional Minister) led where each member of the local congregation expressed their fears and doubts about the journey ahead and Andrew responded "Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live, your people shall be my people and your God, my God." The whole congregation were then invited to join us on our intercessory journey with the people of our community the words "Where you go, I will go..."

So, here we embark on a time of journeying and pilgrimage with no real idea of where we are going but a sense that it will be the journey itself which will be important - a journey deeper into our own community - a journey which God shares with us.

A Series of Emotional Events

So, today we said farewell to the pulpit!
Having been told that our oak pulpit was slotted together, we arranged for Jonathon Hemingray to come and dismantle it. The plan being that he would use the wood to create crosses which we could take with us and/ or sell to raise funds. Sadly, he discovered that the pulpit was actually made of pine and far from being slotted together, it was largely nailed.
Many thanks to Jonathon for persevering - about 4pm, he disappeared into the sunset with a car full of what wood he could salvage, and will contact us again over the summer when he has worked out what he can do with it.

On my way home from church this morning, I noticed a workman in a de-contamination suit outside one row of boarded up houses. Whilst I cannot, in any way, blame him for wearing a de-contamination suit given the state of the houses, I am left rather saddened that the view the outside world has of Openshaw is that you need to wear a de-contamination suit to come here!

It feels all the more important that we continue to proclaim that God loves Openshaw.