Thursday, November 11, 2010
Christmas crafting with Mary: another entry in the dictionary for everyday spirituality
I continue to find enormous enrichment from Rowan Williams Advent reflections, Ponder These Things: Praying With Icons of the Virgin
Mary, one legend says, was brought up in the Temple precincts; and, like the other young ladies living in this rather strange boarding school, she was occupied for a lot of her time in weaving the veil of the sanctuary. When they drew lots, she was assigned the weaving of the purple and the scarlet thread, and was sent home to Nazareth to spin. She takes up the scarlet wool; pauses to go to the well for water and is greeted by the Gabriel as she goes. But she sees no one and returns, anxious and flustered, to the spinning wheel. This time, she takes up the purple – and Gabriel stands before her and announces her future. (60)
While this is creative re-imagination, it does encourage a creative, crafted approach to Christmas and Christian spirituality. It is an invitation to craft, to hand-make Christmas cards, to paint an icon, to bake some Christmas muffins. And in these very acts of domesticity, to expect that encounter with God and an invitation to bear new life, that spirituality can be woven into the fabric of our ordinary lives, that discernment of God’s threads in our life need not be instant, but can be slowly unravelled.
(I’m also adding this to the A-Z dictionary of everyday spirituality. In this case C is for crafts. For more on domestic spirituality, especially in regard to gender, see here.)
Saturday, October 09, 2010
dictionary of everyday contemporary spirituality: O is for origami boats
Over last weekend I spoke to a group about hospitality and mission. I began with Brendan the Navigator and his story of Irish pilgrimage, of setting sail in response to God’s call, with 12 friends but without a rudder. It’s a powerful story of simple trust – trust in the wind (of the Spirit) to lead and guide!
Given they are all adult-learners, who learn in different ways, I then paused and invited them to engage the theme not only by ears, but also by hands. I invited them to make and to name their “mission” boat. This would involve me supplying paper and an origami pattern, and them making a boat out of origami. And as they played, to reflect upon what word or phrase might best describe their mission dreams. If you like, to christen their mission boat.
Much fun, laughter and group work began. As there should be among adult learners! We broke for a cup of tea and upon return, I invited reflection on what people might have been thinking and processing as they made their origami mission boats.
It was a great exercise, was the common response. We enjoyed the creativity.
But it got me thinking, one person commented. As I made my boat, I was so intent on following the origami pattern, so worried about getting it right. Then I remembered the story of Brendan the Navigator. That had no pattern. That had no instructions.
So I stopped.
And so I started my boat again.
I’ve thrown away the pattern and I’m just having a go. It might not work. The boat might sink. That’s the risk. But isn’t that always the risk of mission? Sometimes, don’t we need to throw away the pattern and just explore?
What a great response, I commented back. There is so much pressure to read the books, buy the programmes, keep up with the “name” church down the road. And yet so much of our mission challenge today is about simply listening to the unique work of the Spirit in us and in our communities.
(This is another entry in a dictionary of everyday spirituality. While God is everywhere, sadly sometimes Christianity reduces God to Sunday and to buildings. In honour of a God who by definition belongs in all of everyday life this blog is developping a dictionary of everyday spirituality. For an index of all the entries, go here).
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