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Lent 2020 Project // Street Art // Iconography The many faces of Jesus... see whole Insta project HERE (or find them in real life around Cardiff, before they wear away...)

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Drink a toast to the 4th cup: "Next year Jerusalem!" "Next year restoration" "Next year COVID Free" "Next year around one table" "Next year... together"

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A prayer for this season... This prayer may be used by individual communities in isolation, whether said quietly, or over online video message.  It uses famous words quoted by Julian of Norwich, who lived and suffered during the Bubonic Plague.  In a conversation with God, she wrestled with the current social situation and suffering.  She believed God to have replied to her, in solidarity, with a promise of greater Shalom: ‘...all shall be well...’ 

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COMPLINE | NEW WINESKINS | LENT 2020 We are reading this Compline ‘to complete the day’ as a community during Lent, where + indicates a new speaker, and italics are said together: O God of life, this night,  darken not to me thy light. 

(A candle may be lit) Find rest, O my soul, in God alone: my hope comes from Him. (Quiet is held) Loving God, help us to find the material for the ‘new wineskins’ of our day + Break us out of brittleness that keeps us resistant or complacent + May we grow in vulnerability and a greater availability + Guide us to be generous and generative, passing on our treasures to a new generation + May we be renewed and expanded by the joy of your presence surprising us in new ways + “Forget the former things, don’t dwell on the past.   I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you see it? I am making a way in the wilderness, and streams of life in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43) + In this time of newness and change, we offer you our sacrifices: + our selves, for thy self + our crowns, for thy cross + our kingdoms, for thy kingdom + our individualism, for solidarity + our independence, for community + Walk with us on the journey. + We thank you for the changes through the years, and for the challenges ahead: in disruption, dirt, and dust, God, be with us. (Quiet is kept, in which prayers may be said, out loud or silently: “In_______(insert situation here), God..” be with us. ) + By day your love is faithful, at night your song is with me. + Stitch together a new garment, O God, one that’s fit for purpose + Join us together, and lead us forward in enfleshed movements of justice and love + In our weakness and weariness, with gentleness restore us + Breathe life and movement into your body, the church, that we might incarnate your Beloved Community more fully here on the earth. + As the night watch looks for the morning So do we look for you. God with us sleeping, God with us waking, God with us watching, each day and each night. Amen

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Bless to me, O God, The earth beneath my foot, Bless to me, O God, The path whereon I go; Bless to me, O God, The thing of my desire; Thou Evermore of evermore, Bless Thou to me my rest. Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my mind, Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my love; Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my hope; O Thou King of kings, Bless Thou to me mine eye! - Carmichael 1976 Photos from Summer Abandon 2018.

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30 Fires | In the year before I turned 30 Many gatherings around campfires // Cooking over coals // Cooking in tins amid flames // Marshmallows // BBQs // Brandy’s blue flames // Bannock baking in a Roundhouse // Beach fires... beach fires... and more beach fires... pyramids, pits, keyholes, lean-to’s, log cabin criss-cross’.... // Incinerators // Log burners // Hearths //  Chimeneas // Pizza Ovens //  Indoors // Outdoors // At dawn // At sunrise // In the day // At dusk // Gone nightfall: “Eg grev ned min eld sent om kveld. Naar dagen er slut, Gvd gje min eld alder slokna ut.” // I damp down my fire, late at night, when day is done. God grant that my fire never go out.  (Jøtul 118 Stove Inscription, Norway)

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As I sat in our yellow car, and overlooked a windy welsh beach, equipped with a flask, fruit cake, and 2 good friends.. I hit the big three zero.  In the year of build up, the final year of my 20s, I drew up a list of ‘30 things to do before I turn 30.′

Some of the items on the list comprised of ‘creating’ things:

[1] Carve something out of wood (I made a spoon) [2] Mould out of clay (...a bowl) [3] Cultivate a sourdough starter (Yep, even though short lived) [4] Ferment a ginger beer starter (It happened, but was also short lived.) [5] Follow the saponification process and make bars of soap (...scented bay & bergamot) Others on the list comprised of ‘achieving’ things: [6] Learn to drive [7] ...then roadtrip in Europe (FR & ITL) [8] Swim in seas, lakes and lochs (conquering my unease around water) [9] Start eating and enjoying fish (Highlight: cooking fish, directly over coals, wrapped in newspaper & dipped in sea water!) [10] Develop my taste palate (I sat brewing & sensory exams, wine, coffee, & organic acid tastings) Some were more ‘lifestyle’ based: [11] Regularly Sabbath: divert daily, withdraw weekly, abandon annually [12] Establish a morning rhythm of waking up with a grateful heart [13] Stretch! to touch my toes [14] Carry on learning OT Hebrew (setting time aside weekly) [15] Start giving blood Some, just for fun: [16] Cook on the beach at sunrise (#Jesus) [17] Host around a really big table (many times) [18] Let the music play! ...Go to some gigs (BSS & BBC NOW) [19] Try a whisky from each of the Scottish regions (...this one will roll in to next year!) [20] Own an axe (...I now have a Swedish steel, Hultafors trekking hatchet) Others, practicing ‘presence’: [21] Befriend at the bus stop (I met David) [22] 30 campfires (Documented on Instagram) [23] Tell a story / Capture a moment (Speakeasy 25th Anniversary Booklet) [24] ‘Teach us to care for those entrusted to us’ (Living out the prayer of St. Ninian) [25] Present to place: Forage & preserve. (We made wild garlic pesto)

Others, not completed in the way I had hoped: [26] Step towards self sustainability... by keeping chickens (BIG DREAM... one day!) [26edited]  Step towards self sustainability... by reducing plastic and only using bars of soap (smaller dream) [27] ‘Tabernacle’... a physical place of prayer within our home/community [27edited] ‘Tabernacle’... establishing rhythms of morning and evening prayer meditation within our community

[28] Publish a prayer book [28editing] Install pop up prayer rooms & create small booklets... one day, then, publish a larger prayer book. [29] Sleep on a beach overnight (not completed at all... will have to do this next year.)

As the year began to draw to a close, I grew frustrated at my uncompleted list.  It mirrored my disappointment at reaching 30 without feeling much sense of achievement.  Then, one evening, during community Advent prayers, I saw it from a different perspective.  Richard Rohr* writes about how Advent reveals that ‘perfect fullness is always to come,’ as Christian history ‘lives out’ a kind of ‘deliberate emptiness’ (#notyetnow): 'The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.' The list has been fun, and motivational, but was never meant to be prescriptive.  As I enter year 31, I am reminded to be less ‘purpose’ driven and more ‘presence’ orientated, less ‘trapped’ in my own worldview and more ‘open’ to possibilities, less ‘impatient’ and more ‘trustful.’  And I begun the year ahead... 30 years and 1 day old... amid the garden mud, discovering some surprise potatoes, forgotten about, and left over from my attempts at gardening, and accidentally completed [30] Grow-your-own, from seed to plate.

* Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations for Advent

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SUMMER 18 | REFLECTIONS AT THE WATER At these water points you remind me, a 'real life’ Psalm 23,  quietly ripples of rest and fresh perspective. This voice of clarity speaks so justly. And none dualistically, this wild goose moves untameable and free, yet, in the same motion, it also stills me. Here water becomes milk: There is a time for everything. to plant, to uproot. to tear, to mend. to scatter, and to gather. to be silent, and to speak up. Draw me in, to this suction point,  Where actions speak louder than words, But where words too, are still in fact heard!  So rights are won, and true compassion and justice is served. Hope will never be silent.* *Harvey Milk

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SUMMER 18 | TAIZE COMMUNITY

A short prayer, written by Brother Roger: Jesus, our trust, within us you come to kindle a flame.  Feeble though it may be, it is enough to sustain in our hearts the desire for God.

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From Hebridean Altars... Keep within me a stillness deeper and sweeter than a forest's in mid of winter.

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Like motes on a sunbeam, you gently dust and spread about my day... wild and undirected.

With each particle a whisper: Greater love, Greater hope, Greater peace.

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RETREAT REFLECTIONS | BRING ME IN TO YOUR MOVEMENTS GOD Taken from Daerwynno Silent Retreat, July 2017, this guide may be used at a personal or shared silent retreat.  Go for a walk in nature.  Find somewhere to sit alone, and be still.

Reflect: “How noisy am I! Daily clatterings, banging milk jugs, tripping up, footsteps down quiet alleys, voicing opinions, analysis after analysis,  zipping up, breaking  down  boxes,  turning on the washer, the tap, the kettle,  rustling paper, typing, clicking, crunching the oven ignition,  over and over,  chomping, scrubbing, closing doors,  climbing in to bed, tossing and turning head and pillow.”

Stop. Listen: What do you hear around you?  What can you hear within you? Reflect: “But even in nature I’m a fidget... flicking flies, itching, re po si tion ing. Still me, still, God.  Deeper even. I look and see the tree: solid, still, sure. Deep waters run within it, giving life to leaves. Then: gentle breeze. Branches wave, soft rustles. Bring me in to your movements God. They aren’t like mine. They are smoother, more rhythmic, and stand the test of time. I close my eyes, And begin to see clearer. Take time to be silent. Read Psalm 27. What phrases / words stand out to you? What might God be saying to you in the silence? Thoughts may be shared with the group at the end of the day.

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NINIAN COMMUNITY | WE ARE 4 'Come close. See far.'

Today we celebrate 4 years of our Ninian Community! These pictures where taken from and around the Cave of St. Ninian, at the Isle of Whithorn in Scotland. The following inscription was written on a pilgrimage signpost: 'Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the running wave to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. Deep peace of the shining stars to you. Deep peace of the Prince of Peace be upon you.' 

Our hope is that we live as peacemakers in Pentwyn: going the extra mile, living on the margins, widening the circle of compassion, knocking down our fences, opening our cupboards, offering our couches, setting extra spaces around the table, and sounding the depths of love.

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NINIAN COMMUNITY | BUSY SEASON

1 flat car tyre, 2 peas in a pod, some potatoes, 3 moving outs (2 moving ins), 4 awaiting move to #93. £5 for a boot load of wood, Supplying 250g coffee for #96 …community 7 days a week? 8 corn bags sewn, Raclette for 9… 10… make that 11, Birthdays: 20 & 50 an eco washing ball, and many soap nuts

“May the blessing of our love, and our strong joy in blessing, call out new growth in everyone we know and meet.”

Now hitting the road +/- 2000miles for annual abandon 2018.

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CLEAN UP AT THE BUS STOP Everything I see I see through a dimmed glass darkly…

But, what if I remove my glasses scratch, or clean the camera lense back. Will clarity, then, not appear itself to me?!

Safer in ‘metaphors’ that bring 'meaning’ to existence and satisfy my hunger for purpose. But 'mystery’ broods deeper.. stirs enigma.. without offering resolution.

And if light isn’t actually a 'thing’, but casts other 'things’ in to 'being’, Then what of love and it’s creation of 'be'longing.

In true 'not yet now’ mentality, all I see is blurry bokeh-like bright pin points of light…

So I’ll just diligently do my bit: clean up at the bus stop , sit and wait for the penny to drop, extend the table, and plant seeds of potential. All the while praying for peace to sink in so deep, and for it to become my only motive, when i go about spraying everything with windowlean!

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NINIAN COMMUNITY | ACROSS SMALL HOUSES

We are The Ninian Community, now residing in Pentwyn, ‘reclaiming a sense of family and belonging, by providing a safe space for growth and becoming.’*

Being split across 3x small homes, we are challenged at finding doable shared rhythms, both in our houses and across our houses. Being split across 3x small homes, we are blessed at walking the local pathways between our places, and discovering that together, we have more surface area to go around.

Budge up around the dining table! Sharing thanks before we start. That wheelbarrow Christmas. Mattress moving, and garage sharing.

Planting potato seeds, Foraging wild garlic by the stream. I’ll bring a salad. You bring dessert. Meeting our neighbours... moving slow- ly past first name basis. See you at the bus stop. Can I... Borrow the big pan? Have help filling up my tyres? Energy. Joy. Simplicity. Growing in honesty and vulnerability. Getting to know you... becoming known by you. And discovering our “togetherness” value. All the while our God is beside us, within and without us.** Pushing back our boundaries...*** leading us in to true presence and generosity.

So, may our circle of compassion widen**** May our heart beat with a bias for those cast to the edge. May we be a people portaging peace in Pentwyn, As we care and nurture this small significant spirit: ‘communitas’ *Review day July 2017 **CDP, Morning Prayer Canticle ***Prayer of St. Ninian ****Father Gregory Boyle

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NINIAN COMMUNITY | ‘ARE YOU HOME TONIGHT?’ Lessons on living in community, from Henri Nouwen’s ‘Home Tonight’ and the story of the Prodigal Son:

Inheritance / Generosity of the father, despite being taken advantage of / Freedom for both sons to opt in or out / Having moved on, the son still remembered the father for his practice of good ethics / Welcome, undignified welcome / Invitation and embrace whilst still a long way off / Celebration, giving of best / ‘All I have is yours’