Way of Life gathering, 1st February 2020
On Saturday 1st February, 33 Green Christian members gathered in London to explore the Way of Life – a set of 4 spiritual disciplines – daily prayer, living gently on the earth, public witness and encouragement – for those GC members who wish to have a structure to help us go deeper in our journeys of Christian creation care.
The event was entitled ‘Walking, Falling and Keeping Going’ and had two key objectives – to review how helpful the WoL has been for Companions and to introduce this practice to all who were new to it and had expressed an interest. Throughout the day stories were shared and new friendships made.
The session on introducing the WoL involved group work sharing responses to the following questions:
How much to you know about the WoL?
Are your currently following another Rule of Life (eg Iona Community)?
How does your action to nurture creation affect who you are?
What particular experiences have shaped this link for you?
What resources in the Christian tradition do you draw upon?
Why are you on this journey?
All attendees then divided into groups depending on the region in which they lived, sharing what’s going on in their own areas and churches.
A delicious shared lunch brought by attendees and based on LOAF principles https://greenchristian.org.uk/gc-campaigns/loaf/ offered another opportunity for building new friendships – and this was followed by a 30 minutes guided reflection.
The final session featured an act of contemplation with all forming a circle around a mat (see photograph) on which was placed a cross made from twigs and twine at its centre.
In the four quadrants were:
a wooden stick – to grip onto symbolising anger;
an empty bowl – to show a sense of emptiness, going through a dry patch;
dry leaves – symbolising sorrow for what is lost;
stones – symbolising fear and feeling constricted.
Individuals were invited to step forward and choose one of the four objects and to speak one sentence, to which the response from all was ‘we hear you’.
After this in pairs we anointed each other with oil, and all sang the Taize chant ‘O Lord Hear My Prayer’.
And finally, together, we said the Companions Prayer of Commitment.
A wonderful day. Thank you to all who attended in their generous and authentic sharing of their personal faith journeys.
You will find more information on Green Christian’s Way of Life at https://greenchristian.org.uk/way/
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