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SUMMER 2007
GREENBELT FESTIVAL
Cheltenham Racecourse 24-27 August 2007
“Finding Heaven in the Ordinary”
At the close of the weekend, I asked our young people what they thought had been revealed to them by the theme of this year’s Greenbelt Festival. Back came the answers; “Celebrating Heaven and God in the everyday things that you enjoy” … “To see and hear God in all people and all things”
How right they were. And it brought me great joy to witness their excitement and delight at their first experience of Greenbelt. They all agreed that the weather was “brilliant”, the camp site was good fun, in spite of the numerous and varied spiders and bugs! It was great fun trying to put up the tents – the one for the girls took two hours to erect. However, it was well worth it, since part of it was so big, that we used it as our own community area. Cathy carried out some amazing camp fire cooking (especially the spag.bol. says Richard) which proved her to be a “top-notch chef”! And Jim was a first-class minibus driver.
On our last night, old memories were revived as we enjoyed a midnight feast (chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate) which accompanied a traditional home-made bed-time story. There was much squealing from the girls and extraordinary additions by the boys, all of which turned the event into a lengthy and hilarious episode.
Throughout the four days, we all joined together in worshipping through a whole gamut of styles; rocking to Matt Redman, clapping to gospel singers, swaying to African drums and harmonising to Taizé and Wild Goose. The more reflective types among us (guess who!) also withdrew to a “quiet place” and experienced Contemplative Fire, Roman Catholic Evening prayer and the Franciscan Night prayer.
But it wasn’t all serious stuff. There was the Bass-line Circus, an alternative form of Big Tent antics, with excellent gymnasts, break dancing, trapeze with ribbons, balancing acts, which took place to a background of chants and music. We made jewellery from beads, buttons and ribbons; collected badges (Andrew won the largest number!) and made tie-dye t-shirts. Football and wall-climbing (or should that be climbing the walls?) were in evidence and of course, kite flying. This was known as “scratching the sky” as our hopes and dreams were written on the tails and sent up into the wild blue yonder.
Pam and Emily, Rosalyn and Ali, Richard and Andrew all regularly haunted The Underground (and for those of us who dare to remember, it was a place a bit like The Cavern, of Beatles’ fame!) where they were treated to the likes of the Kando Bongo Man and The Gentlemen amongst others.
There was of course a more solemn side to the Festival, which highlighted the plight of people in the third world and climate change. Christian Aid, the Church Missionary Society and CAFOD were there, to name but a few. We listened to a talk by Bishop Nelson of the Northern Dioceses in Uganda, where all his flock lives in Displaced Persons’ camps. We were also absorbed by a discussion panel comprising leading Muslim, Jewish and Christian theologians on “Can we co-exist?”
One of the greatest events was the main Festival communion service, over which Bishop Nelson presided on Sunday morning. This entire act of worship had to be seen to be believed. Thousands upon thousands of people of every age-group gathered at the Main Stage, with a video-link to the Arena area, for all to share in the bread and wine together. We listened to an inspiring talk, were astounded by liturgical dance and were led by the Love and Joy Gospel Choir. These are some of the comments from our young people;
“Awesome … spiritual … moving … breathtaking”.
Finally, a very big thank-you to everyone who made the weekend possible; to Cathy and Jim, to all of you who attended our fund-raising events, those who entrusted their cars to us for cleaning, those who made donations to speed us on our way, and especially for all the love and prayers that went with us.
Farewell to Greenbelt 2007; “Heaven in the Ordinary”
Welcome to Greenbelt 2008; “Rising Sun”.
Deacon Olivia
PARISH HOLIDAY CLUB
St. Michael’s Church: 28-31 August 2007
“WASTEWATCHERS”
We welcomed an average of 25 youngsters daily, in the 5-11 years age-group, for this year’s holiday club, which focussed on the Environment. Fortunately for us, the sun shone on all our activities throughout the week, which was a great relief as many of them took place outside!
Our theme this year was “Wastewatchers - Change and Transformation”. We explored what we had done to God’s beautiful creation and how we could do our part in repairing it. Giving thanks for the gift of life, we had a great time (trying!) to make ourselves fit and ready to work, and this involved leaping madly around the small field doing aerobic-type exercises followed by team and parachute games.
In creating a large grey and black collage, we showed the effect we have had on Nature, with the sun, moon and stars having turned black. As part of this display, we also filled a rubbish bin with the junk we found in the church grounds. We moved on to decorate votive candle holders, representing Jesus as the “Light of the World”, along with many other small creative activities. Finally we produced a huge, bright collage of the world in all its glory, with an amazing peacock created from the handprints of all the children who attended, and animals made in astonishing technicolour!
With regular stops at our local “Service Station” for refilling (St. Michael’s kitchen – bravely “manned” by an innovative team of ladies!), we were entertained daily by very individualistic tellers of the stories of Creation, Water into Wine, Feeding of the 5000 (which is what it seemed like in the hall everyday!) and finally the raising of Jairus’ daughter. We laughed as we sang and jumped about to action songs and learned that Jesus loves each and every one of us and waits to transform our lives too.
As a tangible reminder of all that we learned this week, we transformed the long flower beds in front of St. Michael’s small hall. Filled with thistles, nettles and many other unfriendly plants, we spent hours digging these out, composting (peat-free!), and cutting back. We then replanted the ground, not only with a glorious array of flowering plants, but also with paper lanterns and laminated, brightly painted animals of land and sea.
At the AAGH service on Sunday morning, Fr. David took us on a journey around all that we had done, giving thanks, praying for forgiveness, rededicating ourselves to doing what we can to transform our world, and singing the new songs we had learned during the club.
Finally, I would like to say a very big thank you: to everyone who did anything to help out this week, for the gifts from Rother Recycling and for all the loving prayerful support with which we have been constantly surrounded. I could never have done it without you!
THANK YOU!
Deacon Olivia
