Visions

Travels through Mark and Luke

2008-02-07T09:19:00.000Z

This Lent we're off travelling through Mark and Luke everyday. We may well post some comments here. Or we might do it on Facebook....we shall see.

Yesterday was chapter 1 of Mark, and personally I'm amazed at how Mark zips into the action at breakneck speed. In the first chapter of Matthew Jesus has hardly been born, in Mark, it seems like He's converted half the nation by the end of chapter 1.

Any other comments folks?

The Sending of the 72.

2007-07-10T11:34:00.000Z

This was the story Heather read on Saturday at my first communion service, first time celebrating that is (we had the service then rather than on a Sunday so people could visit us from other places)....pity hardly anyone came from York though. A headcount of 20 is a bit demoralising, even if shedloads of people from Visions were on holiday. Next year we really should have July as our month off. Nobody goes away in August unless they have to, it costs too much.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I was scared about being sent out. To be honest I didnt really want to go, but have you ever tried refusing Jesus. The look in his eyes said that “no” wasn’t really an option.

Deep inside really I just wanted to stay at the camp in the hills and watch and learn from Jesus.

Yet it was Jesus who sent us away. Inatead of asking us to go where he was going he asked us to begin doing what he was doing. And the thought of that scared us stiff!

Have you seen the stuff he does??!

A few weeks back we saw him send away the twelve. He told them to travel light. They weren’t even allowed to carry a bag of sandwhiches or a change of clothing.Yet he gave them the power fo heal people, and they came back all right. In fact they came back more than all right. They were thrilled because people had been healed. A few days later, Peter made one of the biggest announcements in history. The one that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

So, anyway, there were seventy two of us sent on this second journey. He put us in pairs, so at least we didn’t have to go alone and I found that I had been teamed up with my favourte cousin Obed. And Jesus told us how big the harvest was, and that there were so few workers to gather it in. He told us to pray that the owner of the harvest would send out workers to gather it in. And he looked poignantly at us, We knew he was trusting us with a big task. Each pair of us was sent to a different town, one he was about to visit. And he didn’t want us getting distracted and dawdling by stopping along the way to look up old friends.

And so we went out on the journey. The walk itself was Ok, although at times I wished that stopping at a fruit stall and buying a pomegrantate or two had been an option, but we had no cash! We were sent to one of the tiniest places, a little hamlet that nestled in the Judean hills. And when we got there we followed Jesus’ instructions precisely. We were to go to a house and stay there. We weren’t sure which one to pick really, so we went right into the middle of the town and chose one of the ones in the square, where an elderly lady was opening the shutters in her window and smiled at us. We gave the greeting Jesus asked us to give, wishing her house peace, Shalom.

And we stayed in her house, eating whatever she gave us. Actually we were amazed at her humble home cooking. He bread was some of the best bread we’d ever tasted. And yet she was crippled with arthritis, that made her wince when she walked. And then I knew what it was we had to do....There was a moment when I had to find the courage to say the words I knew I had to say. “can we pray with you?”
She nodded. And we prayed as Jesus had instucted us, When we mentioned the name of Jesus, something amazing happened. Her knees began to shake and suddenly she straightened up and laughed like a teenager. “I’ve been healed! The pain has gone. Thank you! Thank God! Thank Jesus” There were tears in all our eyes. And yet that was not the only healing in that town. We saw lepers cleansed (although we prayed for them from a bit of a distance. I’m not that brave yet!” )
We saw a boy who walked with a crutch ever since he had polio throw away his crutch and dance,and we went to visit a bedridden old man, who threw back his covers and ran off up the street, just to prove he could! So when we went back, we were thrilled. We met up with the othes and they told us such amazing stories.

And yet not everyone listened to what we had to say. The second village Jesus sent us to was not so nice. They spat on us and called us prophet-botherers and, well I can’t quite quote the last sentence they said to us, because its unrepeatable and one of the words began with an F. And then they starte thowing rotton meat in our direction. It brought tears to my eyes and not just cos of the stench, but cos of the hurt of rejection. We felt so low. And yet as I looked down at my dusty feet, I realised that I could not let the rejection get to me, so I said to Obed, “lets do what he said” and we took our sandals off and shook the dust out of them, and somehow that made things feel better. It was almost like the pain of rejection shook off too and we were able to step out onto the road once more, in search of another place and anohter group of hungry people.

Bartimaeus

2006-11-17T09:59:00.000Z

A few weeks ago Visions visited Acomb and did a morning service. The theme was Bartimaus and we did it cafe-style. We had
some discussion questions and a number of prayer stations to visit afterwards. Anyway here was the story, which we kept short, so we would have time for the questions and prayer-stations.

My name is Bar-Timaus, the Son of Timaus, and once upon a time I could see. Before I was struck blind. Now I have to grope around Jericho, trying to beg a living by the roadside at the gate. It is so degrading, so embarrasing, I used to love my job, but now I can do nothing but beg, but I’m not even very successful at that. You see as well as being struck blind, I seem to have become invisible. Noone wants to go anywhere near me. I hear their voices, “Shh! Don’t let him know we’re near. He’ll only ask us for money.” But you see, I need money. We don’t have a welfare state or benefits to help us. I need to beg to eat.

But I still had some friends, and they told me the stories of the healer man, the one we all hoped would be the messiah, the Son of David, the rescuer. And I wanted to meet him more than anyone. I was desperate.

Then one day, I heard the commotion, and knew that my chance had finally come. I called his name. "Jesus!". Then I added the Messiah-title that I hoped was true. "Son of David!" Surely he would prick up his ears at that. But no-one listened to me. They kept telling me to shut up. They wanted me to disappear, to stop being a nuisance. But how could I possibly let slip a chance like this. "Jesus!!! Son of David, Have mercy on me!” Once more I was ignored, and pushed to one side. I couldn’t work out where he was from the voices, and noone would let me near him. I cried out all the louder. "JESUS!!!!!! SON OF DAVID, HELP MEEEEEE!"

Then finally, just as my heart had sunk, thinking I had missed my once in a lifetime chance, I heard a whisper in my ear, from a friendly voice.
"Take heart. Get up. He is calling you.”
I threw off my cloak in excitement and sprang up, but I wasn’t sure which was to turn. The owner of the voice took my hand, and gently guided me to where he was standing. And then there came the question.
“ What do you want me to do for you?”
There I was standing before him, with a stick, groping in the dark, but he didn’t make assumptions. He valued me enough to ask me what I thought, to listen to my voice. I was moved to tears with the wonder of it.
“My teacher. Let me see again,”I found myself replying.
And as he spoke the reply, telling me to go and that my faith had made me well, my vision cleared and I saw his face. The face of the Messiah who would save us all. And his face was smiling.

Webcasting

2006-05-22T21:21:00.000Z

This is just a quick note to let you know about a new experiment we are trying out. Webcasting!

Yes, we are recording our Sunday evening services via a webcam, and streaming them over the internet to anyone who wants to participate remotely. The trial location is:

http://web.mac.com/malcolm.wallace/

At the moment, each week's service from St Cuthbert's Church is made available on the web on the following Monday, and will be kept alive for approximately two weeks.

The video and audio stream requires the QuickTime 7 plugin to your web browser, and a broadband internet connection (sorry, dial-up is not good enough). If you have iTunes, then you probably already have QuickTime, but if not, then it is a free download from Apple (even for Windows machines):

http://www.apple.com/uk/quicktime

Since this is an experiment, we can't guarantee it will always work just right. (Sometimes the technology breaks, and sometimes we might not have a spare person to operate the camera, etc etc)

If you do try it out, please let us know what you think, (email: visions at visions-york.org). Who knows, if we get lots of viewers, we might be able to send out "participation packs" by post, containing candles, incense, and other props you need to join in properly!

Off shoot to the Holy Land and Jordan

2006-04-05T20:17:00.000Z

Jem is in the Holy Land and Jordan, again, 2 -19 April and Julian is in the region too and overlapping with Jem for a filming operation. There's a blog running relating to this which both Julian and Jem have posted on http://ysjholylandjordan06.blogspot.com

peace

Jem

Poem: Holy Land

2006-02-23T16:43:00.000Z

Hidden faces, hidden lives
Open spaces, step inside.

Crushed within the ancient walls
Sand and mist, and sellers calls

Smells of bakers hot, fresh bread
Of looming white walls, not said

Hidden secrets among the tombs
twisting passages, temples loom

The holy plateau stands open, restless
A vulnerable meeting of faiths, confess

XL and XS

2006-02-23T16:12:00.000Z

XL and XS were amazing. The Minster was full of young people over the weekend. The place was a maze of colour and intrigue with installations and music to entertain the whole evening.

In XS Visions was based in the Crypt of the Minster, a great space for worship and to relax in a comfortable atmosphere. The arches of the roofs were low and so helped to create an atmosphere that wasn't too grand and overwhelming.

During the break while the young people were in the main area of the Minster, I lay down on a kneeler and looked up at the sparkling lights in the darkness, breathing in the space.

I took some photos of the space. They can be seen at www.heatherjane.co.uk. Click on 'gallery' and go to the second page of albums.

I was there to help out and I realised that Sue and Malcolm had done a lot of work to make it so good! I certainly felt I got something out of the two evenings even though I wasn't a punter.

Heather's photos

2006-02-23T16:00:00.000Z

You can see my photos of the trip to Palestine, Israel and Jordan at www.heatherjane.co.uk and clicking on 'gallery'.

Julian has posted his photos

2006-01-16T00:04:00.000Z

Julian has posted his photos of the trip. See if you can spot any of us
here

Sophs' reflections #1

2006-01-15T22:23:00.000Z

My style is very different to everyone elses, and it's copied from my blog, but as I am enjoying writing the reflections I'll post them here as well....

----------------------------

“In his darkroom he is finally alone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
The only light is red and softly glows,
as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.”

For the time I have been home, lines from a poem have kept running through my brain. Invading my thoughts, my dreams. Half forgotten lines keep summing up my feelings, as I remember sitting in a classroom several years and a million miles away, flicking through a GCSE text book and reading “War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy. For as long as I can remember I have yearned to travel to the broken places, to see people and to tell their stories. From an early age I would see images of a warzone on television and want to go there. For me, the poem War Photographer summed up those desires.

I was not really photographing a war, none of my photos are shocking images of suffering, but images of resiliance, of life despite the unofficial war happening around them. And I look at those images, at the children who asked me to take their photo, and remember the conversations, the words of welcome from strangers, in English and in Arabic. And I remember the pain I felt as I saw them living their lives, whist all this hate was going on around them.

“Rural England. Home again
to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”

And I am home again, and everything I thought was important has shifted somewhat, it is still important, but somehow telling the stories that run through my mind is more important. But it is also a near impossible task. There are so many memories, so many people I met, so many images I carry in my minds eye that I cannot express them all, and as such find it hard to tell any.

“Something is happening. A stranger's features
faintly start to twist before his eyes,
a half-formed ghost.”

Most of the pictures I took in Palestine were of the people, mostly of soldiers and children, Israeli soldiers, Palestinian children. And behind each picture is a story, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words is needed to show the truth behind a picture

“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where
he earns a living and they do not care.”

From the aeroplane I looked down across the darkening sky and saw the world from a new hight, I couldn't see the borders, the tanks, the bombs, the wars. But they were there, I could remember them. And I wanted people to care. And I’d like to tell my stories, but only if you'd like to listen.

Jem's blogged reflections on the trip

2006-01-12T11:17:00.000Z

You can find my blogged thoughts on the trip at www.latequartet.blogspot.com

Jem

The Via Dolorosa

2006-01-10T19:28:00.000Z

PICT1729
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

The Via Dolorosa is the ultimate alternative worship experience really! A series of stations of the cross, around the city of Jerusalem, following as closely to the route that Jesus took as is possible considering that the streets have been redesigned since Roman times. One of the things I loved about them, was that there was a series of chapels along the way, but they were all different styles and run by different churches. Sometimes it almost became like a treasure hunt, as we lost one or two of the smaller stations along the way. Then finally we came to Holy Sepulchure (or the "Church of the Resurrection" as the Orthodox call it) the site of the Crucifixion, the stone where Jesus' body was washed as he was taken down, and the tomb. It was an amazing, poignant, exotic, spiritual place, and I loved it.

Bedouin tents

2006-01-10T19:20:00.000Z

PICT2347
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This is where we spent one night in the desert with the Bedouin at Wadi Rum. The desert was incredibly beautiful, with red/gold sand, and the Bedouin music and dancing was exotic and fun, but it was also very cold that night! I must admit I was glad that we only had to do it for one night, but I wouldn't have missed that night for the world.

Convent in Bethany

2006-01-10T19:17:00.000Z

PICT1783
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This is the beautiful convent in Bethany, surrounded by olive groves, that is being threatened with demolition because it is in the way of the wall. But the case is ging through the courts, I don't know the result yet, (or even really how to find it out) but hopefully this place will be saved.

The Wall

2006-01-10T19:14:00.000Z

PICT1655
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Here is the separation wall, with the town of Ramallah just behind it. We went to Ramallah one evening for dinner. It is a sad place, because of the difficulties caused by the wall and the checkpoints, but also it is an incredibly welcoming place. I have never had so many people say "welcome" to me before as I walked down the street. I felt like royalty!

Visions trip to the Holy Land

2006-01-10T19:10:00.000Z

PICT1515
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

A group of 11 of us went to the Holy Land over the Christmas period (from Boxing day to the 7th January).We visited Jerusalem, Galilee, the dead sea, and then went over to Jordan for a bit, seeing Petra and Jerash (one of the "ten towns" and the river Jordan, before returning to Bethlehem just in time to experience Orthodox Christmas day before returning to York. It was an amazing experience and we took an enormous amount of photos between us. (hundreds every day). Yet it was also a poignant experience as we saw a lot of suffering around us and heard some very sad stories told to us by the Christians who live in the area.

"5 Carols" CD has arrived!

2005-12-09T11:33:00.000Z

carolcover
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Five carols for Five pounds!

(well 5.40 by the time we've added postage and a nice bubblewrap envelope) but then actually you get ten tracks as we added the backing tracks too. Our new carols CD arrived this morning. I'm really pleased with it. And all proceeds from sales go to sending our students to Palestine. As you might guess they are not your standard carols backings. Bethlehem has gone a bit trip hop/two-step/mellow trance. (but the angels seem to like it!)Check out some of the tracks on Abbess Sue's soundclick site or order them from the Visions Shop

Our new Video resource

2005-11-15T13:50:00.000Z

shouldlooklike?
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Excitement! We now have a Visions CDrom with 50 video loops on it. Yes 50, saved as Quicktime files
which is how we've squished so many on so little a disc.(bt you can change the format if you wish to any other format that is more convient for you). There are confession loops, absolution loops, stuff to play during communion, Christmas images and Pentecost and Trinity ones. Price is 12 pounds including postage or 13.50 if you are not in the UK. Money raised will go towards our fundraising for our trip to Palestine over Christmas so that people on low incomes don't miss out. Please tell your friends/neighbours/church contacts. And even if you don't know what to do with it, it will make a lovely colourful coaster to stick your coffee on!
You can order it from video or shop pages of the Visions website
http://www.visions-york.org

Down at the Beach

2005-07-04T09:59:00.000Z

Sometimes we have a service and I think "This one should be preserved so other people can see it". This service was one of those services. The bible texts for the day were Matthew 11:25-30 and Psalm 145:8-15. This is what we did.....

Theme: The Beach (learning to rest and recharge)

(before the service we sent a mail to our discussion group letting people know so they could dress for the beach if they wanted to get into the mood)

Environment: pictures of picnic food and slides of sea and sand on the front wall of the church.

The communion table was a folding table (not unfolded so it was 2 inches high) and covered in a celtic cross rug that looked like a picnic rug. Set with goblets and plates (which were plastic picnic ones, but nice ones) A big beach umbrella and deckchair were placed just in front of this and towels and inflatables also surrounded it (we had an inflatable globe, a fairtrade inflatable banana and an inflatable hammer as well as a li-lo). Then there was a circle of beanbags to flop out on and the back row was of chairs (it would have been nice to have these as deckchairs as well but we never got that far.) Then we pointed a large floodlight at the beach umbrella and deckchair so it looked nice and sunny. A paddling pool was set up on a stage area at the front.

The visiting priest who celebrated communion also came dressed for the occasion, equipped with shades, sandals and hawaian shirt.

The left wall had video on it (which changed accoding to what was going on)
some elements were stressful city stuff, hawaian hula dancing, baptism imagery during the absolution,
lots of different communion imagery during communion, doves during the peace etc etc)
Also there were TVs at the front which had an aquarium going on them throughout the service.

As people came in the following text was up on the wall (from the message translation of the matthew passage)
“Are you tired? Worn out?
Burned out on religion?
Come to me.
Get away and you’ll recover your life.
I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me. Work with me.
Watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live
freely and lightly” (Jesus Christ)

The first song was our remix of Dear Lord and Father... which has words about getting rid of stress etc.
Then we had a confession. (ambient music was played constantly throughout the service even behind the prayers and readings..it was mostly Ibiza Cafe del mar stuff this week)
All: Father God,
Forgive us when we forget to rest,
To recharge,
When we become human-doings,
Not human beings,
When we forget to stop and ask
If all our rushing round
is really what you want.
Wash us now, forgive us,
And invite us to your party
Where refreshments never end.

(come to the pool if you wish
and wash your hands or dip them
asking God to cleanse and refresh you now)

priest: May God,
Who created the sabbath rest
To give us a flavour
Of what Heaven is like
Forgive you and me, and give you
Refreshment and space
To stop and re-charge.

Then we had the Matthew reading from the NRSV translation.

All: I believe in God.
Who created our cosmos
Then stood back and blessed it
And saw it was good.

I believe in Christ
Who died to redeem it
When our race had vandalised
Our world and our lives.

I believe in the Spirit
Who gives life to the weary
And hope to the broken
And love to the lost.

Then we had the same Matthew reading from the Message.

I then gave a short talk about rest and recharging, including a story about a fisherman
and a capitalist by Mike Riddell and some thoughts from St Aelred about loving each other
being the task Jesus gives us that is easy and light. Then we had a chance to think over the following
questions up on slide. People could discuss if they wished, or simply write some ideas down on
multi-coloured flower-shaped bits of paper which we blu-tacked onto our freestanding
blackboard lighthouse "shrine" (as seen at Greenbelt)

What sort of things re-charge you spiritually?
What types of prayer?
What kind of rest?

Think about the things that drain you.
Then think about the opposite of those things.

While all that was happening Malcolm played "this is the time of our lives by Paul Van Dyk"

Then we had a song which was the psalm for the day
"The Lord is compassionate and gracious" by Grace.
We sung a few extra choruses live and spoke the verses so the end effect was something like this....

psalm 145
---------

All (sing): The Lord is compassionate
and gracious (X3)
Slow to anger, abounding in love.

The Lord is compassionate
and gracious (X4)
Leader: God is compassionate
And gracious.
Slow to anger, abounding in love
Yahweh is loving to everyone
Everything he does is surrounded
by grace.
All: All your works praise You, O God.
All your faithful servants adore You.
They talk of the glories of Your rule.
They speak of Your mighty power.

All (sing): The Lord is compassionate
and gracious (X3)
Slow to anger, abounding in love.
Leader: To make known to all peoples
Your amazing acts.
And the glorious splendour of Your kingdom.
Your Kingdom is an everlasting nation-state
Your presidency lasts throughout all ages.

All: Our God is sure in all his words
He keeps His manifesto pledges.
Yahweh picks up all those who fall
And lifts up those bowed-down.

All (sing): The Lord is compassionate
and gracious (X3)
Slow to anger, abounding in love.
Leader: The eyes of all wait on You, O God.
You give them their food in due season.
You open up wide Your generous hand
And fill all things living with plenty.

All (sing): The Lord is compassionate
and gracious (X3)
Slow to anger, abounding in love.

The prayers for the evening (as the G8 summit was going on) were
"Beach-volleyball Prayer for the world".
(the usual rules applied which wer if someone didn't want to do it that was fine.
just to pass the globe onwards) we also moved the bread and wine out of the way
for this section of the service in case of spillage!)

instructions: Look for a country.
Say its name aloud
(or pray a prayer for it aloud if you wish)
All add “Amen”.
Throw the globe gently to someone else.

at end:
All: Accept these prayers
For the sake of your Son,
Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Behind the communion liturgy (which I won't bother printing in full) we played "one perfect sunrise" by Orbital.
Here is a section of the prayer though.

"Father, we thank You
For all the gifts you’ve given us.
For the unforced rhythms of your grace
For times of work and times of play.
For this bread
And for this wine,
Fruits of Your creation
Yet eaten and drunk in the presence
Of those who hunger and thirst.
We remember now, in awe
And gratitude
That You sent your Son to live with us,
Laugh with us, weep with us, teach us,
And then die for us.
Opening up the door to Heaven...."

After the distibution (communion was passed around the circle)
we sang this song....

I rest this night with God
And God will rest with me.
I rest this night with Christ
And Christ will rest with me.
I rest this night with the Spirit
And the Spirit will rest with me.
God and Christ and the Spirit
Be lying down with me.

then prayer this prayer...
All: Thank you
For feeding us
With your body and blood,
And giving us
The time and space to sit at your feet.
Now send us out,
Refreshed and renewed
To live and work for You,
And to rest in Your arms.

Then finished the service by singing "Tower of Strength" by the Mission

You raise me up
When I'm on the floor
You see me through
When I'm lonely and scared and I'm feeling true
To the written word
And you;re true to me but still I need more
it would tear me apart
To feel noone ever cared for me
You are a tower of strength to me.

priest: May God
Lead you to still waters
Of rest and refreshment
And the blessing of God
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Be with you and remain with you always.
All: Amen.

The Minster 1

2005-02-02T23:18:00.000Z

DSCF2652
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

The minster nave complete with slides from us.

The Minster 2

2005-02-02T23:17:00.000Z

DSCN0453
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This is the communion table, with me, bishop Martin, Danny, and 700 other people.

Visions of the Minster

2005-02-02T11:58:00.000Z

Well I've finally got around to Vision-ry blogging. It seems a pretty good week to start seeing as the weekend has been such an interesting one. We did one of our biggest services ever, as part of the XL and XS youth meetings in York minster and it was pretty amazing! It took most of the second half of last week to hoist giant screens from the pillars in the building, to project onto , but by Friday evening it looked great! The minster has this cool cherry-picker-type lift instead of a ladder that the verger uses to hoist ropes from the tops of the pillars. A V.cool piece of equipment! The theme of XL was "one body" and so we designed lots of computer graphics images of body parts to project around the place. But the highlight of the event for me was the communion we had near the end of the evening. We used the instrumental mix of Winter by DT8 as the backing track to the liturgy which the bishop of Selby celebrated for 700-odd people. Liz from Hull added dramatic giant puppet type-stuff to illustrate the communion prayer which was rehearsed at one of the workshops at the event, and we played zoo-tv type wordburst stuff on the video screens while the bishop was speaking, then we sang some Visions songs during the distribution. Very hard work, and a bit nerve wracking, but well worth it!

XS in comparison was much gentler work for us. We had a prayer room in the amazing Minster crypt, with video projected onto netting, and just did a spot of video mixing and making the place look pretty for the bands and the worship in the nave.
Good fun!

altcrib

2004-12-26T21:03:00.000Z

altcrib
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

This was our take on the traditional Christmas crib this year. The baby was a cut out photo, placed in a crib full of shredded adverts from magazines rather than straw. Mary and Joseph were silhouettes of real people (created by shining a light on them and drawing round the shadow) placed between the lining of the tent and the outer skin. The star was a solar 250 effects light. People had the freedom to go and pray inside the tent or write prayers and place in the crib.