On Sunday, 14th June at 4pm (GMT) we will gather on Facebook Live (or on YouTube) with interactive discussions afterwards in Zoom. You can follow along with the running order below and find any links that you need.
We have an online worship gathering every Sunday at 4pm and we are also meeting for a weekly online prayer gathering Wednesdays at 7:30 via Zoom. If you would like to ALSO connect with one of our mid-week Zoom Community Groups email newchurchbirmingham@gmail.com.
When we gather in person we always have cake and a creative/ mindfulness area with activities. You’ll have to grab your own snack this time, but if you fancy doing some mindfulness colouring as you watch/ listen/ engage with our worship gathering, you can download and print this colouring page. Here’s what else to expect:
Today we’re talking about spiritual deconstruction. If you aren’t familiar with the term ‘deconstruction’ it’s used to talk broadly about the process many Christians go through of re-examining our relationship to our faith and to God, perhaps questioning deeply held beliefs or traditions. This can be a life-long process of breaking things down (asking, why do I believe that?) so that our faith and spiritual practice can be built up again in a healthier, truer form than before. We want our community to be a safe space where this is seen as a normal and healthy part of life and faith.
Welcome (Danielle)
Song – Beautiful Things
Question for Sharing (Joel & Ruth):
What is something that you have changed your mind about? It could be something as simple as changing your favourite drink or something deeper.
Prayer (Rachel – prayer & artwork)
A Prayer for Wanderers
God of the seekers and dreamers, the disaffected and disillusioned, the worn out and burnt out, the rejected and leavers…
We ask for blessings as we travel, as we doubt, as we meander.
We ask for the grace to leave when necessary, to come home when we can, to create new homes when we need to.
We ask for protection of our souls from those who don’t understand, who judge, who mock.
We ask for the fortitude to undertake the journey even when it’s scary (or, maybe, especially when it’s scary).
We know that as we wander we are not alone and as Tolkien says that “Not all who wander are lost”. We know that sometimes we have to leave the confines of what we knew to see the truth, to hear Your voice, to find out what to do next.
We pray you lead us where we need to go, by whatever route it takes. We pray for new ways to see You, to understand new ways of being in the world. We pray for healing and for redemption, and, where possible, reconciliation.
We pray for all of this so we can know wholeness, know our bodies, know each other, know You.
And be found.
Amen. (Written by Brian G Murphy of the Sanctuary Collective)Reading (Martin):
“People are very afraid of what looks like deconstruction…but you go back to the first 1,300 years of Christianity, and faith is defined as a combination of knowing and not knowing. Of a willingness and readiness by the grace of God to live with what the mystics call darkness. Now with that out of the picture, and people getting the impression that they have a right to perfect certitude and perfect clarity and perfect order every step of the way, you’ve basically destroyed the biblical idea of faith to begin with… You don’t move to the next level of faith without going through a necessary period of darkness. When you’ve never had that in your background and it’s all about building this coherent, consistent system where you actually love your understanding of faith, this is not the love of God anymore. This is an idol called certitude. So now when bits of darkness or actual faith journey [are] asked of people, they think they’re losing their faith. When in fact, the great ones would say, ‘You’re finally finding it.’” – Father Richard Rohr
Song (Dave) – Wayfaring Stranger
Reflection– (David & Nettes) – Is Deconstruction Bad?
Deconstruction Story (Danielle)
Song – Emmanuel (A New Litury)
Love Feast (Julia & Sam)
Song (Danielle) – Come Thou Fount
What’s Coming up (Danielle) *
Blessing: “May we live fully, love wastefully and have the courage to be all that God has created us to be.”
*If you are part of our community and would like to make a gift toward Inclusive Gathering Birmingham, you can do that here. Anything you give helps to support the costs of making church happen and allows us to be generous as a community. There’s no pressure to give!
After our Worship Gathering, at 5:15 anyone who would like to continue to discuss these themes from the podcast ‘Is Deconstruction Bad?’ is invited to move over to Zoom for our Book & Podcast Discussion Club.
Here’s the direct link to today’s Zoom at 5:15…. full Zoom details available here.
If you’ve got any questions about Inclusive Gathering Birmingham or would like to have a chat with someone from our community, please email newchurchbirmingham@gmail.com and we’ll be in touch.
