Something a little different

For the last few years I have done some kind of display in church to celebrate Pentecost. This year I set up some prayer stations on symbols and characteristics of the Holy Spirit. During the service people had an opportunity after the sermon to discuss with others some questions relating to the talk, express their thoughts through a creative station, or spend time reflecting in the prayer area where the stations were. I thought people would be very hesitant as this is something very different for our congregation, but everyone responded in some way and there was some positive feedback afterwards. Something to try again sometime.
Here are some pictures of the prayer focus area, together with some of the wording which went with them.

Flames settled over the disciples heads to symbolise the Holy Spirit Coming to them.

Fire can be transforming, cleansing, comforting and it produces light to guide.

Think of how the disciples must have felt and how the Holy Spirit made them brave to tell others about Jesus.

As you light a candle, pray that the Holy Spirit will make you brave and give you the words to tell others about Jesus.

The Holy Spirit hovered over the water at creation.

The Holy Spirit was present as Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan.

The Holy Spirit fills us and renews us like cool, refreshing water.

As we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we overflow with God’s love, bringing His grace to those around us.

As you hold a blue stone, pray that the Holy Spirit will refresh you, fill you and that you will overflow in love for others. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where and how to take his love into the world. Place the stone on the blue material as a sign of commitment to take God’s love into the world.

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ This Jesus said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.                      John 7: 38 - 39

The wind can be powerful or it can be gentle. We cannot see the wind, but we can see its effects, the rustling of the trees, the blowing of a flag, a kite flying or the turning of a wind turbine.

Just like the wind, we cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can see the effects the Spirit has on people.

Sometimes the wind moves things in new and different directions. The Holy Spirit also makes new things happen in people’s lives.

This can sometimes seem scary, but the Holy Spirit equips us to go where God wants us to be, to be who we are meant to be and to do his work.

Blow the bubbles gently and ask God to bless people through his Holy Spirit.

Write or draw a prayer on a piece of bunting and attach it the line. 

Craftbomb

Every now and then (well quite often actually!) I get a mad idea that I later regret. A few months ago I came across (via Pinterest!) information on craftbombing for Voluntary Arts week and had a vision of hearts hanging from the trees outside church.

 As the week coincided with the church's spring fair, I decided to go for it. I asked permission from the PCC and contacted lots of community groups and individuals about my idea and inviting them to contribute home made hearts and of course I started making hearts myself.

I began to wonder if I would get any hearts at all and it would all look rather pathetic.

I then began to panic about the weather as the forecast was not good, very wet and windy!

I then wondered how on earth I was going to find time to put all the hearts up.


In the end all worked out well.

The response from a variety of groups was brilliant.

My husband was a star helping me put the hearts up (holding the stepladder and advising!)

It was rather windy, but dry.



The hearts looked amazing and people came into church to make their own hearts.


All in all, hard work, but I'm glad I have these mad ideas!

Easter

It's been a while since I posted anything here as I have been busy making and doing rather than uploading stuff. (I also last term took on 2 days of teaching which made things even more manic)
Easter time was particularly busy as I led Experience Easter and the Creative Easter at church.
Experience Easter was based on a pack from Gloucester Diocese Jumping Fish  http://gloucester.anglican.org/jumping-fish. The church was set up with stations to tell the Easter story in an interactive, multi-sensory way. We were privileged to welcome 4 classes from one of the local primary schools to this event. It was brilliant to be able to share the meaning of Easter with the children who seemed to enjoy the experience.












Cre8ive Easter is held on Good Friday and is a time for families to explore the meaning of Easter through crafts and activities, particularly making lots of different crosses. The church was also open so that people could explore the Experience Easter stations. We had a good number of families, many of whom we had not seen before, plus some regulars to such events.

Easter now seems a long time ago and it was soon on to my next project, more of that in the next post (hopefully not 5 weeks after the event!)

Dorset Buttons

Yesterday I had the pleasure of running a workshop at a local craft group on how to make a Dorset button. This was the first time I had done this and I am pleased to say it was a good experience. The craft group ladies were lovely and very welcoming and they did extremely well at learning a new craft. 

I started making Dorset buttons about two years ago after seeing an advert in a craft magazine for kits from Beaker Buttons. I thought they looked interesting, so I ordered a kit, made a button and was hooked. There are so many ways to adapt and use them that it is addictive to keep trying new ideas. I made some into necklaces, earrings and brooches and gave them as presents to friends. They are a great craft to do as I don't need much equipment to make them, so can easily be carried around with me to do, I can sit and do them while watching TV (have to be do something while the TV is on, can't just sit and watch!) and there are a variety of patterns and colours to do so I don't get bored and there are challenges of finding new ways to adapt the basic pattern. That being said, I actually haven't done any for a while (my butterfly mind moving on to other things!) but it was great to come back to them to prepare for the workshop and now I'm hooked again!
Here is a selection of some of the ones I have made.