Category: community

community · LIterature · Poetry

The Nearest Thing To Life

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Yesterday I listened to a programme called ‘One to One’ on BBC Radio 4. It made me very thankful for the BBC and for the variety of programming that we have access to. The programme was presented by Peter Bazalgette, a BBC executive who has a concern for increasing our understanding of empathy.

In a short 15 minute interview with Jane Davis, founder of ‘The Reader’ magazine they explore the way that reading aloud in groups can help us to understand ourselves better and to have a deeper empathy with the experience of others. Jane Davis is also the founder of a programme where small groups meet together to read aloud – Shared Reading

She describes in often moving ways how these groups not only help those with limited reading ability, but can also have a much deeper impact in transforming lives. She desribes the reading groups as ‘Not like a book group, but more like a cross between a very small intimate church and a small intimate pub.’

At the end of the interview, we learn how through talking about the varied experiences and stories that are shared, Literature becomes a rich resource that can help us learn about one another other as well as ourselves. Novelist George Eliot wrote: “The greatest benefit we owe the artist, whether painter, poet, novelist is the extension of our sympathy. Art is the nearest thing to life, and is a way of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow men beyond the bounds of our personal lot.”

Jane David responds – “Yes, humans are profoundly social. We want to be together and we need to be together, yet we are burdened by individuality and that’s mainly how we experience ourselves. Literature – poems, plays, stories is a marvellous way of reaching out to others.

It’s a quick listen – do give it a try using the link at the top.

Grace and Peace.

Church · community · Worship

Build Community: Yes, But How ?

Jonnyfun.E2 Comments

In other posts I’ve been writing about the church and the inward looking mindset that often plagues us. I’ve suggested that the order of priorities that prevails much of the time: Worship – Community – Mission is the wrong way round and it should be: Mission – Community – Worship.

Even so, I want to say something about worship as the launch pad for mission. Worship is, or should be transformative. It should be the place where we are not sure whether we are in heaven or on earth. It should be the place where we are re-centred in our mission to make God’s love in Jesus Christ known.

In thinking about what constitutes this quality of worship, I came across the following in a book called ‘At Heaven’s Gate’ by Richard Giles.

‘Good worship springs from an authentic and palpable sense of community. Once we learn what it means to be a genuinely interactive community of faith, we shall draw forth from one another a whole range of talents and ministries to create extraordinary worship. Although worship can, and does happen at gatherings of strangers and on one-off special occasions, good worship at the local level, week in week out, depends very much on the quality of the common life enjoyed by that local community. Good worship begins with a whole and happy community.

It cannot be done the other way round, for worship used as a sticking plaster for a dysfunctional community will not last very long. …… Building community is the first priority therefore of a church intent on renewing its worship.

… It will require community building that will embrace many aspects of our community life, providing various opportunities for members of the community to get to know one another better, to listen to one another and strengthen the bonds that tie them together.

Coffee after worship; events that combine elements of worship; spiritual formation and socializing; small groups that provide opportunities to learn; worship and shared meals in a home setting; pilgrimages; retreats; outings; working parties to tackle particular projects. All are ways of building up a sense of belonging and purpose.’

Now if I had written this at any other time, we might pay attention to these words and set about paying more attention to these ways of building community.

However … this is not ‘any other time !’ If the above words have any truth, then Christian worshipping communities must, as a matter of urgency, seek to find other ways in this constrained atmosphere to build community.

For example,

  • Resourcing worship at home for families and encouraging ‘bubbles’ to worship together.
  • Being more intentional, as we were at the beginning of lockdown, to serve one another through helping out with shopping etc.
  • Small ‘whatsapp’ groups or similar. (I say small because my experience is that as groups get larger engagement gets less)
  • Working parties (currently up to six people) to do for example some local clean ups, or tidy church gardens etc.
  • Socially distanced walks for small groups. (Sitting in the garden together might be too chilly, but walks could work)
  • Using technology (eg Zoom) for group get togethers. My experience again is that the larger the number the more difficult it is. (Some people find this helpful, whilst others don’t).

This isn’t going to be easy, but getting some energy into ways of building community in churches seems even more crucial in these times.