Home again and I finally feel as though my brain has caught up to my body and arrived in Seattle. Jet lag definitely gets worse the older we get but there are a few tricks I find help. First getting out into the garden, not a surprise as everything one reads about jet lag urges us to get out into the sunlight to help our clocks reset themselves. Second, taking time to sit in the presence of God and refocus myself really helps. My morning meditation time has been particularly valuable after this trip. Read scripture, praying and diving into the books I brought back have been very valuable in rooting my soul back into the present time.
I have also enjoyed reflecting on my experiences and allowing the spirit of God to speak to me through the precious times of encounter and exploration. So much for me to drink in and savour and I don’t want to let go of these experiences before I gleaning all that God wants me to. Part of the fruit of this I share in my Meditation Monday: Discovering a Thin Space in which I shared my reflections on Escomb Saxon Church near Durham in the north of England. This is indeed a very special place where one senses the presence of those on the other side of the veil between heaven and earth.
Part of what this trip encouraged me to do is to rethink and refocus my priorities. Many of you are already aware that I am moving much of my online activity to Substack, with three regular weekly posts – Meditation Monday, Keeping Up With the News on Wednesday and Spiritual Practice on Friday. These posts will alternate between a unique spiritual practice one week and a post about the latest Liturgical Rebels podcast episode the next. There may be additional posts about seasonal celebrations and online retreats as well. Most of the Meditation Monday posts and a few of the spiritual practices will also be available in audio form for paid subscribers. I find that Substack provides a versatility not possible on Godspace. However it does take time and I am still working out what is possible for me. I encourage you to become a paid subscriber as that is part of what enables me to find time to focus on my work on Substack and provide the spiritual practices that so many of you enjoy.
I appreciate your prayers as I discern God’s plan for me for the future. I have been approached by a publisher about writing another book, something which was already stirring in my heart, and still want to provide occasional online retreats, so life is very full and exciting.
So what is happening with Godspace? We will continue to post the Meditation Monday and Keeping Up With The News posts, and Lilly Lewin will post her Freerange Fridays as well, but the other posts might be less frequent. Many of our writers are changing their priorities and not writing as many blog posts for us. Some of the will be reposts of important articles from previous years. This last week we posted two of these – The Fatherheart of God posted in preparation for Father’s Day and as a counterpart to The Motherheart of God which we posted for Mother’s Day. We also reposted Yarnbombing Day by Naomi Lawrence, a very timely repost as it is an interview with Naomi Lawrence that is our new episode on The Liturgical Rebels, live today.
If you would like to join our writers’ community and feel you can contribute posts that are pertinent to the Godspace ethos please check out the guidelines https://godspacelight.com/
In Liturgical Rebels Episode 10 Christine interviews Naomi Lawrence, a fiber artist known for her yarn bombing installations, shares her journey and the impact of her art on communities. She works with acrylic yarn to create oversized 2-Dimensional crochet flowers, trees and wildlife. The site-specific installations are sewn onto chain-link fences in parks and public spaces.
Let me end with my discernment prayer for the week:
God of all creation,
Known yet unknowable,
Visible yet invisible,
Near yet far off,
Hold us close as we wander
Through the puzzles of this life.
Give us courage
To discern the path ahead
And walk the journey
You set before us.
Many blessings
Christine Sine
Episode 10 with Naomi Lawrence is now live!
by Christine Sine
I did not expect our trip to Britain to be one of such spiritual significance. Since we watched The Secrets of Britains Great Cathedrals during COVID, I longed to visit some of these impressive sites of worship. I loved the magnificence of Wells and Durham Cathedral and the specialness of Malmesbury Abbey. What I didn’t expect was the impact that the small Saxon church at Escomb would have on me. It has been a place of worship since the 7th century. It is small unassuming and humble, but it filled with the presence of God, a thin place where I almost felt I could reach through the veil to touch heaven. Evidently the Very Reverend John Habgood, former Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of York called it “The jewel in the crown of the Church of England.” (Thanks Derek Jago for this information)
Escomb church
Roof of Escomb church
Saxon cross behind altar
Celtic cross
There are no kings or queens or well known Celtic saints buried here, no ornate decoration to draw your attention but the whole sanctuary resonates with the voices of those ordinary people who worshipped there over the centuries. And those voices go back even further than the 7th century. The rounded part of the chancel arch was reassembled from the nearby fort of Vonovia and many of the stones both inside and outside the church bear the cross hatching which is typical of Roman stone work.
I love the carved Saxon cross behind the altar and wonder how many people over the century have used it to focus their presence on God and the wonder of faith.
We were privileged to attend a Celtic communion service there, something that now only happens once a month, but that has been celebrated in Escomb almost every week for over 1300 years. As I partook of the communion elements and sat in awe and reverence afterwards, it occurred to me that the greatest gems in God’s crown are like this – ordinary people worshipping in ordinary places with love and devotion.
Celtic Service bulletin
The service we used comes from the community of Iona on the West Coast of Scotland, a place that has been a spiritual home for us since we first visited it during our honeymoon 32 years ago. It was from Iona that, in the 7th century Christians came, spreading the faith throughout Scotland and into Northumbria. Linidsfarne Abbey on Holy Island was founded and from there many Christian communities including Escomb, grew. We were not able to visit Iona this time, so it was very special to be gifted with this place and this service that connected us back to our spiritual home.
I love the opening responses for our service and want to share them with you. You might like to find a comfortable place and three candles to light in the appropriate places as you read it. Close your eyes for a moment as you begin and imagine all those who stand and worship with you, that great cloud of witnesses throughout the ages who faithfully followed Jesus in their ordinary lives of devotion.
Leader: We light a light in the name of the Maker, who lit the world and breathed the breath of life for us…
We light a light in the name of the Son, who saved the world and stretched out his hand to us …
We light a light in the name of the Spirit, who encompasses the world and blesses our souls with yearning …
All: We light three lights for the Trinity of love: God above us, God beside us, God beneath us: the beginning, the end, the everlasting ones.
Prayer of Invocation:
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, stay with us.
With friend, with stranger, with young and with old, be among us here.
Come close to us. that we may come close to you.
Forgive us that we may forgive one another.
Renew us so that, where we have failed, we may begin again.
Amen
In the week before Mother’s day I posted meditations, prayers and creative ideas for helping us connect to maternal images of God and celebrate the mother heart of God. As we approach Father’s day here in the U.S. I realized how important it is for me to do the same for Father’s day.
I must confess this is much harder for me because I did not have a good relationship with my own father who was physically violent and domineering. Unfortunately I am aware that for many of us such experiences have tainted our view of our heavenly father too. And on top of that we have often been exposed to patriarchal sometimes warlike images of God the father, images that sometimes unconsciously make us feel that God is an angry, vindictive God who punishes us for every wrong doing.
As I meditated on my own views of God the father this week, I realized that central to my understanding of the father heart of God is my conviction that God is love. My image of God as a loving, caring father is still something that I am growing into however. I need constant reminders of God’s love for me expressed through forgiveness, compassion and provision. I need to spend time sitting in the presence of God, imagining myself a child on its parent’s lap. We all need to grow deeper into God’s love.
What is your response?
Listen to the Lord’s prayer
Sit quietly for a few minutes thinking about your own image of God the father. When you think about God as father what thoughts come to mind? Make a list of your impressions.
Now imagine yourself sitting on God’s lap, held in a loving embrace. Read through Paul’s wonderful treatise on love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Make a second list of the nature of love. Compare your two lists. Sit quietly again the presence of God allowing God’s love to wash over you. What images that you have of God the Father need to change? Offer a prayer for healing and restoration.
Now watch this video which explores some of the scriptures that giving expression to this loving, caring God.
Write your own Father’s love letter. What might God want to say to you at this time about your own impressions of God? Finish with a time of prayer
Christine and Tom are coming back tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear about their trip. Summer is here in a little over a week, don’t forget that there are many garden resources in the store. There are books and virtual classes, prayer cards and reflections on gardening as a spiritual practice; go take a look if you have some time.
Last week Episode 9 of the Liturgical Rebels podcast aired. Christine and Forrest Inslee interviewed Brian McLaren, author of Life After Doom, covering hope, transformation, ecological overshoot and so much more. Last Thursday we reposted one of Christine’s spiritual practices: finger labyrinths. They’re lots of fun, and pretty easy to make and use. One of our Godspacelight writers, Rev Sheila Hamil, has published a new memoir, “Called”. As she says, “My book ‘Called’ documents my entire life from being a child growing up in the North East of England with the ever-present threads of family, friendship, and faith in God, all woven in.” You can access it on her website www.sheilahamil.co.uk. Christine’s Meditation Monday shared her visit to Wells Cathedral, there are lots of beautiful pictures. Yesterday we reposted Naomi Lawrence’s 2021 post for Yarnbombing Day; if you don’t know what yarnbombing is, go find out.
Now you’re caught up!
Melissa
Originally posted in 2021
by Naomi Lawrence
FLASHBACK to June 8th 2012
It’s about 9pm and I suddenly remember that tomorrow is the much anticipated International Yarnbombing Day and somehow it slipped my mind. I grab my tape measure, run to the corner of my Cambridge street, and measure a lamppost – its height and circumference. At home I scramble together some knit and crochet swatches then return to sew the piece on, take some quick pictures and then head home. There’s a flurry of excitement in the bakery the next morning on the opposite corner. I hear the staff gossiping about the press and when its my turn to be served I lean across the counter and whisper “it was me”.
I’m hooked and now there’s no going back.
Fast forward 9 years. I am now living in Harlem, NYC and I am known internationally for my ‘next level yarnbombing’ and one of the only fiber artists in the world making large scale 2d crochet flowers. I work with local fiber artists on collaborations, consult community groups who are wanting to make a yarnbomb, teach crochet in schools at the same time as making my art and working on private commissions. My ‘hobbie has turned into a jobbie’.
But it’s more than a job or vocation, this is my ministry and I feel this is where God is calling me to be right now. In the slow patient process of making art with others using the craft of crochet. In 2018 we joined a Christian order called InnerCHANGE ‘a family of Jesus followers whose lives are bound together by common rhythms, commitments and values’. Through this international community we feel better equipped to ground ourselves here and now in our 2nd year of a 3 year apprenticeship we are aiming to grow a team here in New York.
I meet regularly with a group of local women to work on a new piece to beautify the neighborhood and these pieces can take months to make. We work individually at home and keep in regular contact, sometimes meeting once a week in a local church or local community center. These relationships have grown over the years and the women have come to rely on each other as friends, mothers, wives, ex-wives. The emotional support that grows organically is beautiful to see. Then there are the seniors in the Bronx that have an art programmer who reaches out to me and asks if I could work with them to create their own floral mural on the fence of their housing. Four months later I spend 10 hours sewing the seniors flowers onto the fence with one of my local women and we laugh and cry all day. Isn’t God good. I have this life because I am created me to be the woman I am and have the gifts to transform and beautify. And in all this I AM CHANGED.
la flor de mi madre 1
I’m not the same woman I was when I installed that first yarnbomb in 2012. Boy am I not. I’ve given birth to twins, emigrated to the USA, lost countless friends to chronic illness and addiction and then there’s the whole transformation that comes from finding a way to channel that creative side of me that for so long lay dormant.
These days I’m pretty much working full time on fiber arts projects/yarnbombing and that incorporates all the ‘admin’ involved and there’s a lot of that these days.
Right now it’s Saturday afternoon and I’m just returning from a 4 hr drop-in workshop I run with a local friend at a community center in a NYC housing project. A few women stop by throughout the afternoon to drop off crochet & knit squares for a collective yarnbomb, to collect yarn, have a quick chat or sometimes a long chat. I enjoy the unhurried, slow brewing relationships that develop over time and through consistency. Yes, sometimes there are deadlines and they can be draining but we bounce back and sometimes they’re the ones that pay the bills and enable us to stock up on yarn for future projects.
A community activist and gardener from a community garden in the Bronx recently reached out. They have transformed DOT land into an oasis right beside the Harlem River Parkway and I am helping them to make a 7ft crochet monarch butterfly for the outside of their fence.
I could just make it for them but from day one I invited THEM to make the 200 orange 5” squares and then sew them together at a workshop they hosted in the garden. I see the joy and pride that creators have when they have contributed to a yarnbomb and I want them to feel that. Not just show up and say they love this piece of fiber art created by me but to truly be able to say “I made that” and also “I made this for you” to their neighbors. It will be installed on the outside of their garden facing a busy intersection of a neighborhood inhabited by people who live below the poverty line. Maybe someone will pass by that garden fence one day and will see that butterfly and will feel that they too are loved. These are the stories we retell and maybe those that hear them will wonder if there is a way that they can do something small in their neighborhood. A random act of generosity…
Bio for Naomi Lawrence
Naomi Lawrence
Naomi Lawrence is a British Fiber Artist based in East Harlem, NYC. Working with acrylic yarn to create oversized 2-Dimensional site-specific installations.
Spirituality of Gardening Online Course
The garden has seemingly unending lessons to teach us about God and what it means to be a person of faith. We read about the miracle of the fish and the loaves but experience a miracle every time we harvest God’s bounty. Join us as we discuss connections between community, spirituality and gardening. Explore the wonderful ways that God and God’s story are revealed through the rhythms of planting, growing and harvesting. Spiritual insights, practical advice for organic backyard gardeners and time for reflection will all enrich and deepen our faith. This series is based on Christine Sine’s popular book, To Garden with God.
by Christine Sine
On Thursday last week Tom and I enjoyed the wonder of a visit to the magnificent Wells Cathedral which sits on the western slopes of the Mendip Hills in the medieval city of Wells. It is an absolute masterpiece. Built in the 12th century it is both beautiful and historic and still attracts pilgrims and visitors from all over the world. What amazed me was the calm serenity of the space, so much in contrast to other great cathedrals which are often far more crowded and bustling with noisy activity.
I was inspired by the unique scissor arches in the nave, a stunningly beautiful design that one can be forgiven for mistaking to be a frivolous flourish to the already awe inspiring architecture. They were actually added in the 14th century as a medieval solution to sinking tower foundations. As well as that there is the incredible vaulted ceiling which I could have stood and admired for hours. Extremely beautiful but also very functional. How often I wonder do we dismiss artistic masterpieces as frivolous and with little value because they seem on initial examination to have little functional purpose? I think that God intends beauty and functionality to go hand in hand. In fact it seems to me that when we lose sight of God and move away from an understanding of the sacredness of all things, we often design for functionality at the expense of beauty.
I vividly remember three visits I made to Budapest during the 80s and 90s when Hungary was moving away from the Soviet Union and the iron hand of communism. There was a growing interest in spirituality amongst the people we talked to and part of the way it seemed to be expressed was in a moving away from the drab greyness of Soviet architecture to a joyous use of colour and vivid designs. Maybe one sign of our closeness to God is our appreciation and creation of beauty in every possible aspect of our life.
Would love to hear your opinion on this.
Another aspect of the cathedral that intrigued me was the West Front with one of the largest galleries of medieval sculptures in the world. The lower niches are filled with biblical scenes but as we look higher we move through images of kings, bishops and angels to the twelve apostles with Christ reigning overall. It’s amazing to think that these figures, carved more than 800 years ago are still in such good condition though it is probable that back then they were even more resplendent as some of the carded figures were probably adorned with red, white, blue and green paint.
Much as I admire these incredible sculptures, I struggle with the hierarchical view of our world and of God that they seem to depict. Christ is a distant, untouchable figure. Definitely not the loving, compassionate companion and friend I have come to see him as. Nor do these images draw me closer to the God of love whom I increasingly see as a down to earth, garden loving, vulnerable God who is intimately entwined through every aspect of our world and deeply concerned for every part of it.
Another spectacular part of Wells cathedral is the chapter house, the place where church authorities met to discuss ecclesiastical affairs of supervise legal proceedings. Octagonal in shape and with a fine ribbed-vaulted ceiling, it has been described as “architecturally the most beautiful in England. “ Along its perimeter walls are 51 seats or stalls for named dignitaries and the steps that lead up to it are well worn by the passage of hundreds if not thousands of feet over the centuries. This is a well used structure, though I must confess I would not have enjoyed the stone seats to sit on.
The last feature that caught my attention was the astronomical clock, circa 1390 which is one of the oldest mediaeval clocks in the world. And it still works. How is that for craftsmanship? It was wonderful to watch the jousting knights go round as in a tournament while above and to the right, Jack Blander chimes the quarters with his heels and strikes the bell in front of him for the hours. I am amazed not just by the detail and the whimsy (one of the knights gets knocked of his horse time and time again) but also by the endurance of this incredible clock. The loving work of the crafters who created it is incredible. I can imagine the pride taken in its creation and the delight it would give to its creator to see it still in use today.
Wells Cathedral gave me much to reflect on. I rejoiced at this symbol of faith and worship that gave glory to God hundreds of years ago and still today. It has endured for so many years, through good times and hard. and still stands as a testimony to the greatness of God. However I also grieved the journey into wealth and prestige taken by the heads of the church and the images that show how church leaders separated themselves and their impressions of God from the common people. Is it surprising that people find it hard to draw close to our loving God today? What I wonder can I do to change that and to introduce others to a God who craves intimacy with all of us?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
by Rev. Sheila Hamil
“Put down the hoover, go into the bedroom and pray!”
This time the words seemed more emphatic, more urgent
I seemed to sense that if I ignored this command a third time, I would not hear this voice again. So, with feelings of both curiosity and annoyance, I marched into the bedroom, thinking ‘What harm will one little prayer do, anyway?’
My book ‘Called’ documents my entire life from being a child growing up in the North East of England with the ever-present threads of family, friendship, and faith in God, all woven in.
Sheila shares how in the very ordinary things of life, and death, relationship and work, there is treasure to be found, and the hand of God at work. It is a masterpiece of memories.
(Revd Rachel Hudson: Vicar of Scremerston, Spittal & Tweedmouth at Diocese of Newcastle, Church of England)
I don’t think I’ve read an autobiography that weaves so many threads (including, but by no means limited to: spirituality, family, history, current affairs, politics both national and international as well as ecclesiastical!) into one lovely tapestry.
(Tim Binder, co-author of Walking with the Wise)
Author’s Note:
What better time to reminisce and jot down memoirs than when you have time on your hands, say during a period of ‘lockdown’. A familiar word, even more common these days, has been bequeathed to our world since the month of March 2020.
Off and on, since then, the entire human race has been following rules concerning our need to isolate in order to prevent the spread of the virus Covid-19. Which has led to a cornucopia of unfamiliar words such as ‘social distancing’, ‘bubbles’, ‘pandemic’, ‘zoom bombing’, ‘key workers’, and ‘covidiot’. It’s all been quite puzzling and scary for us, and lonely and strange. We grieved and fretted, as death rates and hospital admission statistics rose alarmingly.
And so, we inhabited a ‘brave new world’ in our everyday lives, with very little human contact or touch, outside of the family circle. We so missed our full-on tight hugs. Initially, to use my time wisely and take my mind off ‘the bug’, I began making videos of all my songs; some of my friend’s compositions among them. My second project was this — a book of memoirs, and how I came to faith in God.
My book entitled ‘CALLED’ has just become available on Amazon Kindle Edition and paperback. In CALLED you will find family, friendship, romance, history and faith in God, all woven together.
Kindle is the better buy, as photos here are in colour and it contains links to all of my songs and a few dramas, whereas photos in the book are in black and white; links referenced here can only be obtained through my website: www.sheilahamil.co.uk
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