Our Gathering on August 23rd

WELCOME

Welcome to The Pub Church! We are a church, in a pub. So please feel free to move around, order drinks and food, doodle on your placemat, and above all express your thoughts and ideas freely! This is sacred space.


OPENING READING

I do not have to go to
To Sacred Places
In far-off lands.
The ground I stand on
Is holy.

Here, in this little garden
I tend
My pilgrimage ends.
The wild honeybees
The hummingbirds moths
The flickering fireflies at dusk
Are a microcosm
Of the Universe.
Each seed that grows
Each spade of soil
Is full of miracles.

And I toil and sweat
And watch and wonder
And full of love.
Living in place
In this place.
For truth and beauty
Dwell here.

- By Mary de La Valette, Life Prayers, p. 398


PEACE – TOAST

In this place we creatively express;
Some of us are focused, some are a mess!

We participate during the sermon
And people do connect, we are learnin’

Greet all with a handshake, toast or a wave
At all times feel free to yell, rant or rave

Fake not friends, we can arrive as we are.
Cheers! Here’s to sacred space in a bar!


CONVERSATIONAL SERMON
Reflections on Place and Sacred Space

• Is our encounter with the Divine always a combination of the Divine, humanity and place?
• Do we have any particularly sacred place/space; “a little garden” of our own? How did we develop that relationship?
• What is the difference between space and place?
• Does our opening reading reflect more of a reference to place or space? Or both?
• What difference does it make that we are a church in a pub? Why does this place (a pub) matter? How?
• Do we need to mark or designate a place as a “sacred space”? If so, how do we do that?

SHARING OF RESOURCES
Today’s sharing of resources will be saved for the next inspiration that arises!

COMMUNION

FEEDBACK AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Check the BLOG: thepubchurch.blogspot.com
What will be our next place??

CLOSING

Be still and aware of the Divine presence
who is within us, who is with us, and
who goes before us as we leave this place.

Sacred Space

I do not have to go
To Sacred Spaces
In far-off lands.
The ground I stand on
is holy...
- Mary de La Valette (excerpt)

This week we will reflect on "sacred space" and the importance of place and why place matters!

Why do we have church in a pub? How can it be our sacred space?

Aaah, come find out with us :-P

August 16th Gathering

PRELUDE

Maggie Keelan on the Harp

WELCOME

Welcome to The Pub Church! We are a church, in a pub. So please feel free to move around, order drinks and food, doodle on your placemat, and above all express your thoughts and ideas freely! This is sacred space.

OPENING READING

I do not have to go to

To Sacred Places

In far-off lands.

The ground I stand on

Is holy.

As swimmers dare

to lie face to the sky

and water bears them,

as hawks rest upon air

and air sustains them,

so would I learn to attain

freefall, and float

into Wisdom Spirit’s embrace,

knowing no effort earns

that all-surrounding grace.

* From Life Prayers, p. 398, 354

PEACE – TOAST

Followed with music by Maggie

In this place we creatively express;

Some of us are focused, some are a mess!

We participate during the sermon

And people do connect, we are learnin’

Greet all with a handshake, toast or a wave

At all times feel free to yell, rant or rave

Fake not friends, we can arrive as we are.

Cheers! Here’s to sacred space in a bar!

CONVERSATIONAL SERMON

Reflections on Christianity and the Church

So far, what John the Baptist and Jesus have been announcing is an invitation and summons to ‘switch stories,’ and therefore to change our lives.

Just as we have seen in Mark – Baptism initiates us and forms us into a new story in which our previous stories are united to God’s story, God’s realm.

I believe the truth of the Christian story can finally only be a matter of beauty, not of rational argument; a matter of peace rather than winning. So maybe in The Pub Church we are the embodiment of the beauty of Christianity; re-narrating Christianity in terms of inclusion and hospitality instead of arrogance and imposition and forming a community in which the Christian story can be embodied peacefully and toward liberation.

But we don’t re-narrate primarily by talking, then, but by practicing, by re-enacting and re-dramatizing the story...

~~~~~

1) What do you all think?

2) What does it mean to participate in Pub Church – what do we want it to mean?

3) What are the practices and rituals of The Pub Church that re-narrate a Divine story?

SHARING OF RESOURCES

Today’s sharing of resources will be saved for the next inspiration that arises!

COMMUNION

FEEDBACK AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Check the BLOG: thepubchurch.blogspot.com

CLOSING

Be still and aware of the Divine presence

who is within us, who is with us, and

who goes before us as we leave this place.