alternative worship for Maundy Thursday

If you found your way to this blog searching for an alternative worship space in Adelaide this Easter, Sarah's current alternative church project at Christ Church / Effective Living Centre in Wayville is The Esther Project. You are welcome to enter this Maundy Thursday space on your lenten / Easter journey:

Art and Community

Blackwood Uniting Church invite artists to participate in an exhibition on the theme of Community,to be held from 16 - 18 April 2010.

The theme has been chosen to encourage artists to reflect on the nature of Community and to represent this in some way, through the media of painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, ceramics or glass.

More information and entry form available via their website.

Into Holy Week a little wetter than anticipated ...

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a tide of jubilant expectation. His disruption of peace and social order was annoying while he was in the small towns, out of the way. But here in the city he was a far more visible, more real threat to the authorities.

He brought his radical message and disruptive behaviour right into the heart of Jewish political and religious power, the Temple; and they couldn’t have that.

Even one of the twelve closest to him felt unsafe, uncertain around Jesus – enough to betray him to the authorities. Was it that Judas couldn’t accept the message Jesus delivered, or could he not bear the undermining of Jewish leadership? We can only guess.

Jesus had spent hours in the garden in deep prayer, agonising over the knowledge that to bring about God’s realm on earth, he had to enact this realm of peace, of forgiveness, in the face of injustice and violence.

Jesus stayed true to God’s mission. He did not run. He did not meet violence with violence.

And so he was arrested.

One of our witnesses has described the coming and going of the trials, as different Roman leaders resisted then bowed to the Jewish leaders and ordered Jesus’ execution.

Jesus carried the cross on which he would die through the streets. Witnesses along the way who had seen his peaceful, healing actions in the country now saw this man defeated. How confused they were, those who hailed Jesus as King of the Jews as he arrived in Jerusalem.

Jesus had been severely beaten, blood still dripping from wounds onto the street as he walked, his skin red, ripped, raw.

With the disciples all gone, fled in fear and disbelief, the women walked those last steps with Jesus.

And as we turn from Palm Sunday’s jubilant expectation into another Holy Week, we, too, walk with Jesus towards the cross. We, too, agonise over the costly decision to give up the life we have in this world in order to embrace true life in the realm of the Holy One who creates, redeems, reconciles. 

We were surprised by the rain on Sunday, having got used to living in a drought and not really deciding on a wet weather plan. So some quick thinking revised the shape of the BWJ space slightly, in the spirit of improvisation! Luckily there was a decent sized shelter at the oval we had booked. 

When the sun poked through the clouds and through the drizzle, it was quite a backdrop. 

Again, Daniel Lee and friends created just the right atmosphere with their jazz guitars & drums. 

And three characters shared moved between the groupings of people sharing their stories of the days before Jesus' crucifixion. The woman who had anointed Jesus at dinner evoked laughter, a soldier posed interesting questions, and Peter almost had people in tears at his sorrow having denied his relationship with Jesus. 

People commented that this was a moving experience, and that they appreciated this opportunity to engage with the Holy Week story. 

We reflected on the events of that week, and our journey through Holy Week this year, taking bread and wine for that journey to the cross. 

Into Holy Week

Update on the next BWJ space: 

meet three characters from the Holy Week narratives, hear their stories, and reflect on the events of the days before Jesus was crucified. 

hear again or for the first time the cool jazz guitars of Daniel Lee and friends, local musicians.

begin your journey into Holy Week, remembering the sacrifice Jesus made, bringing about a new creation, a radical reign, renewing our relationship with God. 

4.00 - 5.30 Sunday 5 April

The Pines 2

Belair National Park

Bring drinks, nibbles, chair/rug and friends. 

Black Wood Jazz: into Holy Week

Sunday 5 April - 4.00 to 5.30 pm - Belair National Park, "Pines Two" 

Into Holy Week will offer reflections on the characters and stories of the week leading up to Jesus' arrest. After the triumphant arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, the expectations of his followers were quickly overturned with the shocking events that culminated in his brutal execution. 

Who were some of the people whose dreams were shattered in those days in Jerusalem? What is their story? How do their experiences resonate with our own? 

With cool jazz and over picnic supper, we'll explore these questions, and begin to bring our attention once again to the cross. 

BYO rugs/chairs and food (make it a meal or nibbles as you feel inclined). 

More information to follow on any costs involved. An offering will be received to help the church participate in God's mission in our neighbourhood, in our world. 

alternative church gatherings in january

If you're interested in encountering the Holy outside of traditional church settings, Blackwood Uniting are gathering on the main oval of Belair National Park at 9.30 am on the Sundays in January. Sorry, I know we're half way through January now, but there's still two opportunities to encounter the Sacred in the beauty of the Australian bush on our doorstep, this Sunday 18 Jan and next, 25 Jan. Bring a chair or rug to sit on, and bring a thermos to join us for coffee and a chat after our reflections. 

Bonhoeffer on Advent

A friend who was at Black Wood Jazz last night recalled some words she'd read of Bonhoeffer's, speaking of waiting and Advent. I'd like to share them here. 

Celebrating Advent means learning to wait. Waiting is an art which our impatient age has forgotten. We want to pluck the fruit before it has had time to ripen. Greedy eyes are soon disappointed when what they saw as luscious fruit is sour to the taste. In disappointment and disgust they throw it away. The fruit, full of promise, rots on the ground. It is rejected without thanks by disappointed hands.

The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfillment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the value of those times of anxious waiting, seeking with patient uncertainties until the answers come. They lose the moment when the answers are revealed in dazzling clarity.

Who has not felt the anxieties of waiting for the declaration of friendship or love? The greatest, the deepest, the most tender experiences in all the world demand patient waiting. This waiting is not in emotional turmoil, but gently growing, like the emergence of spring, like God’s laws, like the germinating of a seed.

Not all can wait—certainly not those who are satisfied, contented, and feel that they live in the best of all possible worlds! Those who learn to wait are uneasy about their way of life, but yet have seen a vision of greatness in the world of the future and are patiently expecting its fulfillment. The celebration of Advent is possibly only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who can look forward to something greater to come.