"Mark Yaconelli is a spiritual director, retreat leader and director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project.
He is the author of Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus and Growing Souls Experiments in Contemplative Youth Ministry. He is currently finishing a book for declining congregations entitled Letter to a Dying Church. Mark is married with three children." (thank you Greenbelt website).
His talk was introduced by a nice lady (the talks coordinator) who pointed out that Mark works with an organisation which bases its work on teaching people to love their enemies. Mark says that he is involved in this group which teaches people how to show mercy, because he has so many enemies.
His talk for us that morning was something very different. After first telling us the amazing story of how he and his wife met and got engaged (to illustrate how the heart and the soul already know what to do but the brain just needs to catch up). He went on to retell the parable of the prodigal son but with a different spin to the one which we all know so well.
Mark wanted to leave us with the thought that each of the main characters had something brilliant and amazing and also something which they could learn. Principally that the younger brother was following a good desire, what he wanted was to break out from under his fathers shadow, to cease being compared to his brother and make it on his own, but as with so many who try to do this he carried his brokenness out into the world with him and this is what lead him home and into a renewed and better relationship with his father. In all our hearts there is the desire to be more than we are, this need to break out from where we are now to the place where we should be, to where we are the people that we should be. We just need to be careful of what the brokeness of our previous situation can do to this endeavour.
This represents what I can do given a Homebase dust sheet, a dozen Sharpies and an hour with the brief, "A prayer tree like the one from last year and something to fit in with the Biblefresh theme."
The first image of course is the prayer tree (similar to last year but this time with colour!) the second image shows the Bible picture quiz I created, all you needed to do was to name 10 out of the 13 stories and you would win a chocolate!
Some where easy (if you can't guess these you really need to go away and read your Bible :)
Others were much harder (unless like me you really enjoy you obscure Bible stories) answers on a postcard (this one actually earned people a bonus choc it was deemed so impossible by some Methodist helpers).
The prayer tree proved very popular. Again I made the mistake of breaking my own rule by reading some of the prayers, many of which brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eyes. Especially one asking God to bring their mother back into their life. I may have given out an odd impression of the Methodist Church with my red eyes and sad expression immediately after this. Thankfully there were some extremely amusing ideas of what the answers to the quiz were, including one who thought that the David and Goliath picture was Paul and his conversion because Paul was a bad ass (Goliath picture) and then he became a good guy (David picture).
Think. Talk. Be. Is the new Methodist slogan to help us all to remember the Church's new push on Discipleship as a Methodist distinctive (I even got a nice t shirt with it on). The LWPT were also in with us this year and put on a nice little display and even had a hoopla game (how very church fête). The third picture is of the great stand front we had this year, designed to look like a package (not sure why) which covered the stands inside meaning you needed to go in (which lots of people did out of curiosity)
Sunday morning as the clouds and drizzle drifted across (to the cries of dinner ladies yelling "IT'S SPITTING, GET 'EM IN, IT'S SPITTING") the famous (or infamous) Greenbelt Communion service began. After the horror which was last years effort I did not hold out much hope for this service. But I was very pleasantly surprised.
Thanks to the Aberystwyth lot I was able to find somewhere to put my new on the floor seat, and I was almost even still able to see the stage.
Admittedly this was taken with my arm up in the air, but you can just about make out the children's scratch choir who where Amazing!
As was the service itself. Well chosen songs (good solid old fashioned hymns), beautiful liturgy linking the Bible message with the theme and our own acting out. And a well put together order of service which contained a small mirror which enabled us to look sideways (the theme) at the liturgy (which was in mirror writing in places. The only thing that could have been improved would be to make more of the mirror thing which was also slightly see through. Maybe talk about learning to look beyond so we don't find ourselves focusing on our own image.
Next on the blog. Bodiam Castle and our day out in Dunkirk (that's in France that is)
His talk was introduced by a nice lady (the talks coordinator) who pointed out that Mark works with an organisation which bases its work on teaching people to love their enemies. Mark says that he is involved in this group which teaches people how to show mercy, because he has so many enemies.
His talk for us that morning was something very different. After first telling us the amazing story of how he and his wife met and got engaged (to illustrate how the heart and the soul already know what to do but the brain just needs to catch up). He went on to retell the parable of the prodigal son but with a different spin to the one which we all know so well.
Mark wanted to leave us with the thought that each of the main characters had something brilliant and amazing and also something which they could learn. Principally that the younger brother was following a good desire, what he wanted was to break out from under his fathers shadow, to cease being compared to his brother and make it on his own, but as with so many who try to do this he carried his brokenness out into the world with him and this is what lead him home and into a renewed and better relationship with his father. In all our hearts there is the desire to be more than we are, this need to break out from where we are now to the place where we should be, to where we are the people that we should be. We just need to be careful of what the brokeness of our previous situation can do to this endeavour.
The prayer tree proved very popular. Again I made the mistake of breaking my own rule by reading some of the prayers, many of which brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eyes. Especially one asking God to bring their mother back into their life. I may have given out an odd impression of the Methodist Church with my red eyes and sad expression immediately after this. Thankfully there were some extremely amusing ideas of what the answers to the quiz were, including one who thought that the David and Goliath picture was Paul and his conversion because Paul was a bad ass (Goliath picture) and then he became a good guy (David picture).
Think. Talk. Be. Is the new Methodist slogan to help us all to remember the Church's new push on Discipleship as a Methodist distinctive (I even got a nice t shirt with it on). The LWPT were also in with us this year and put on a nice little display and even had a hoopla game (how very church fête). The third picture is of the great stand front we had this year, designed to look like a package (not sure why) which covered the stands inside meaning you needed to go in (which lots of people did out of curiosity)
As was the service itself. Well chosen songs (good solid old fashioned hymns), beautiful liturgy linking the Bible message with the theme and our own acting out. And a well put together order of service which contained a small mirror which enabled us to look sideways (the theme) at the liturgy (which was in mirror writing in places. The only thing that could have been improved would be to make more of the mirror thing which was also slightly see through. Maybe talk about learning to look beyond so we don't find ourselves focusing on our own image.
Next on the blog. Bodiam Castle and our day out in Dunkirk (that's in France that is)
I love the sunday service even when it's a shambles. When we used to go as a yoooof-group we'd see the grownups from church in passing but sunday was really the only time we were all in the same place together.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll be able to make a triumphant return to Greenbelt next year.