[ hold :: this space ]

[planter box filled with rubble]

Is it too easy for us to talk of kingdoms that grow from fertile soil,
and seeds that bear grain

when, for most of the world,
the soil is too dry,
too denuded,
too lifeless

where there is no water to drink
let alone water a plant.

where people try to plant seeds of a kingdom in the rubble of
broken dreams, not the fertile soil made accessible by privilege and wealth.

Take a piece of rubble.
Hold it in your hand.
Feel its hard edges.

Read the stories of the world in the paper.
Feel their hard edges.

Carry the rubble with you through this day.
Let it remind you of the world beyond this place.
Let it challenge us when our answers become too easy.

i found a chemical analysis of soil, which i used as a background for the following reflection. a pdf of that can be downloaded here: seeds_soil1.pdf)

reflection:

We can reduce healthy soil
to a chemical equation:
a mix of elements put
together in the right order
and the right measure.

But life is more than the sum of its parts

You are the life that gives birth to all life.

–

We know all of what it
takes to prepare the soil,
but we cannot make the
life that comes from it.

Only you can do that.

You are the life behind all life

You are the life within all life

–

For your kingdom to emerge
the soil and the seeds must
be made ready

and for that you need us -

collaborators in your realm of life.

–

If we have forgotten where the source of life is
forgive us

If we have thought that the kingdom could be of our making
forgive us

If we have forgotten our part in the making of your kingdom
forgive us

Bring us back to your life.
–

People were invited to do the following:

How will you collaborate with God in the kingdom today?

Take a seed and plant it alongside those already planted by others.

Wait a few minutes in silence.

Trust the knowledge that God is beginning to work already with what you have offered.

[planter box with sprouting mustard seeds in the shape of the word 'love', bread on plates - including gluten free option]

The promise of the kingdom is that grain will grow tall enough to harvest.

The promise of the kingdom is also that there will be enough grain to make bread for all.

Take a piece of the bread.

If someone is near you, offer them some too.

There is more than enough here for all.

Let this bread - and the promise it holds -
sustain you,
collaborating in the kingdom,
in the company of God.

During the time for the stations we had the sound track from here playing on a loop, and also a loop of quicktime movies, which showed plant cells and roots growing (i imported them into keynote and looped that). That was projected onto a wall, onto which we’d stuck sheets of white paper. in front of that were the following instructions, and some white pens (which were a little hard to find - uniball signo were the cheapest, and worked fine).

Hidden beneath the soil
- right now -
the work of God is taking place.

We can’t see the cells growing and multiplying.
We can’t tell that the roots are taking shape, grasping the soil
sucking in the nutrients,
and absorbing the water

We just have to trust that it’s happening.

What are the situations in your life and the world
that you have to trust to God?

Take a pen and write them onto the screen
no-one else will be able to read them.

[welcome if you've come visiting after the alt worship workshop yesterday at Otira... it was a good day... thanks for your participation]

this is the worship we did in the morning. it was based on this Sunday’s lectionary reading, Mark 4:26-28, the story of the kingdom of God being like the farmer who plants the seed.

the space was set up with six planter boxes, set up around the space. The one in the centre had a cross embedded in dirt:

We began with the bible reading, which was on keynote, using this time lapse movie of a seed germinating. Then people were given the following on a piece of paper, and invited to read it, then spend the next 20 minutes moving around the stations.

God’s realm doesn’t emerge from sanitised cleanness.
It’s born out of the dirt of the world - from that which we wish we didn’t have to touch.

God’s realm doesn’t fall down on us from the sky.
It grows among us.

God’s realm doesn’t come out of nowhere, in a shape we don’t recognise.
It’s made of the stuff of everyday life.

Which means there’s every chance it will grow among us, right here and now.

Within the dirt and the compost of the world
lies a realm of possibility and promise.

If you would like, dip your finger in the dirt beneath the cross, and mark your wrist with a sign of the cross, to carry with you through this time of worship.

[planter box with a cross embedded in dirt, on a table in the centre of the room]