December 2017: Get ready!
This is a szopka - a traditional nativity scene from Krakow. Join us for an evening of making and meditation for Advent.
People were asked to bring cardboard boxes, shiny foil wrappers, kitchen roll middles, loo roll middles, bottle tops and sundry other bits and bobs. We then got into groups and made szopkas!
In the cafe afterwards there were mince pies and mulled wine.
Slideshow here.Welcome to Grace
Outline: there are practical things at tables, then a contemplative reading of scripture. At end a café – welcome to join us.
1st bit of the service - Szopki – The practical bit
Sarah told about history and meaning: get into three groups and make some. The making bit will take 20-35mins.
2nd bit of the Service: Contemplative Scripture reading.
Sarah introduced the subject and got them to lie down on beanbags...
Play some peaceful music. Tell them that what you are going to do is not hypnosis; you are trying to wake up the imagination part of their brain. Get them to lie on the floor and relax. Ask them to imagine their favourite place. What do they see? What can they smell? hear? touch? (NOT taste). How did they get there? What is the time of day? The season of the year? The weather? Is anyone else there? How are they going to leave the place and return?
(Smell is one of the most evocative senses; Proust got 7 volumes of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu out of his auntie’s tea and buns. For some reason, the person who gave me this exercise told me not to use the sense of Taste.)
Get into pairs; each person in the pair tells the other person about their favourite place – cover each of the four senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell)
Pray:
Holy Spirit: Guide our contemplation
And lead us closer to you.
Amen
Lectio divina
Luke 2 21-40 (Jesus presented at Temple: Simeon, Anna)
1. Read it once through with little emphasis.
2. Read it a second time, with them relaxed and their eyes shut. (Tell them not to worry about their minds wandering – let them wander and come back.) As you read, stop and ask questions - what is the city like? what clothes are you wearing? Decide – who are they? Mary? Joseph? Anna? Simeon? A pigeon-seller? A Priest?
3. Third time: Get them into groups of 3-4 (try and have different “characters”). Tell them they are meeting 2 years after the event and re-telling it – doesn’t matter if they contradict each other or interrupt. Whole small group should take part in the re-telling.
Coming OUT of this: tonight we have only scratched the surface of lectio divina – usually practiced alone, with many more stages of reading, meditation, reading, pondering, reading, and prayer.
Short Prayer
Jesus,
Thank you that you are always more ready to meet with us
Than we are willing to come face-to-face with you.
This Christmas, help us to grasp the depth of your love
For us and for all creation.
Send us out to love others
In your name.
Amen
Thank you and good bye
Café
Photos
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