Hi folks, I hope you are well and that you are ready to meet up on Sunday night at Cullercoats Crescent Club (upstairs bar at the front). We have decided to change the start time to 7.30, with the aim of starting the blog discussion between 8.00 and 8.15. This is to allow people to leave earlier after the discussion is over.
As we make our re-entry into the club we also want to ensure that we keep people safe, so we ask that when walking around the club you wear a mask. Please also be mindful of others personal space either while sitting down or walking about. There are a number of hand sanitisers around the club so please use them. If there are large numbers we will split into small groups around the club.
This week is a fairly laid back gathering to reconnect with each other and introduce you to the ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ theme we will be reflecting on over the next few weeks.
So with that in mind, I wonder what your summer highlight was? Did you do something over the summer that you hadn’t done since the start of the pandemic?
Life is often very ordinary isn’t it? There are things that we do everyday without thinking. When was the last time you thought about any of those ordinary activities in a kind of mindful or spiritual way? I suspect like me that you haven’t! I’m usually so focused on getting the activity done or my ears are tuned into the music I’m listening to at that time. At the start of the pandemic we noticed a lot more around us when we went for our daily exercise. The lack of cars allowed us the space to hear the calls of nature. These are the everyday sounds of life we miss when other noises drown them out – although I am someone who goes everywhere with music in my ears!!
Of course in modern church culture there has often been a sacred and secular divide and the two don’t really combine. I would suggest that all of life’s encounters can be sacred moments, it’s in the DNA of BFX (BeachcomeberFX) as we attempt to listen, or see the sacred/spiritual in the world around us.
Liturgy is a very churchy word, it’s about rites prescribed in worship. Another understanding is that it’s also a repertoire of ideas, phrases or observances. This opens it up doesn’t it? I would suggest that the secular world is threaded with elements of the sacred.
And so we hope over the next few weeks to think about some of the ordinary things that we do and to ponder on what new sacred/spiritual meanings we could attach to them.
I think this is particularly important as we emerge back into the world. We will need to find inner resources to cope with the demands put upon us, so having ordinary activities that help us reconnect may be helpful.
So here are some questions:
What was your summer highlight?
What one thing have you done again since restrictions have been lifted that you have not done for a while?
What is your favourite ordinary activity?
What are you missing from your months of lockdown?
Where do you see a sacred/secular divide?
How do you feel about making ordinary things become more spiritual?
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday night!
Peace, Rob
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.
