1. Ronnie Baby line drawing. We have one mounted version in A3 – to see image click here.   To make a donation towards the cost.

2. Oh God. We have one mounted version A3, 3xA3 and 1xA4 print unmounted – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

3. Womens face spray painting photo. We have one for mounted A3 and one unmounted version – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

4. Aw.  We have one mounted A3 version 1 unmounted A3 version – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

5. Messiah.  We have 2x A3 unmounted versions – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

6. Junia.  We have 1xA3 mounted and 1xA3 unmounted versions – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

7. Mary figure – We have 1xA3 mounted and 3xA3 unmounted versions – to see image click here. To make a donation towards the cost.

At Christmas time this year, I had the good fortune to be able to catch up with family on boxing day. As part of this I went with My Uncle Geoff, Geoff Plant which some of you mooters know, to see his art studio and some of recent paintings.  His Art Studio is based on an estate previously where Eric Gill lived, who was an artist, sculpture and design person, who was responsible for some of the art and Lady Chapel at St Matthews Westminster, the first home of the Moot Community.

Whilst we were there, my Uncle expressed his frustration with some of his art.  He knew he could draw people, but wanted to get beyond the construction and technical bits of art, to be able to express the essence by getting beyond his own limitations.  It struck me that this is the same process as meditation and prayer, about getting beyond the self by using some form of method of prayer and meditation, to be able to reach beyond yourself to be able to encounter the essence which is God.

When I did my MA, one of the courses I completed was on art, literature and a theology of the imagination.  This basically traced the theme of creativity and imagination as the sphere for encountering the Holy Spirit, as the medium when the human and the divine encounter in the I-Thou relationship – whether this was intentional or not.  I have always seen prayer and meditation as an expression of this, as it requires you to get beyond your thinking and your feeling to be able to see beyond the self.   I have never thought that art and the process of making art, as a similar process.

So my Uncle and I could appreciate my comment that art then, seeking the essence outside of our self-preoccupation and self-deceptions, is like prayer and meditation, seeking to reach beyond, to seek the essence.    Prayer is hard work, just as art is hard work, but both are an essential expression of the spiritual path of seeking to reach out to the essence beyond, seeking the divine.

From previous lives of habits,

Hard to break and change

Yet days awake, if only dreams

Could take flight again,

Find the wings to beat and shake

Like butterflies tired of chrysalis,

Thus leave the caterpillar behind

With mind aflame and flickering

From chaos into rage

Bright colour, patterns, courage.

Thanks to all you Greenbelters who supported our three services at the Abide venue. We are pleased we were able to facilitate worship for the over 600 people who attended. It was good to see that Katherine Venn was selected as one of the festival highlights in the literature section, and that the panel on new-monasticism, which included Ian Mobsby, attracted over 700 people to queue for the event which only had a 200 person capacity.

Clare Catford’s talk and panel were both received well; Richard Trouncer’s round-the-fire storytelling was a hit; and Mike Radcliffe’s input to the arts programme went well. Vanessa Elston helped run a series of Serum events at Greenbelt too, which also went well.

So all in all 2011 was a great year for Moot at Greenbelt. To see pictures of Moot events from the festival see our flickr group here, and please add some if you have more and are member of the group. Also, join our Facebook group.

Our autumn programme will commence with a Compline Service on Sunday 4th September. To see our events please click here

Yellow and white; daisies, dandelions, above the grass.

The lawn in need of a haircut is a dance dappled with sun.

Pigeons parade, beaks nodding and dipping to the ground

In search of hidden seeds’ secrets. A small breeze lays its hands

Across swaying stems while an insect skips past,

Fleck of motion in the air followed by the white flight

Of a butterfly’s flicker. – Scattered pools of gold, shafts

Light up the summer green. Distance murmurs

In neighbouring gardens, a passing car, an invisible bird.

Quietly, time breathes in the long day, blows clouds slow overhead

As the drift of dreams in an idle painting of surrounding trees

Tall as they frame this gallery of calm.

Whispering, the wind talks its peace in my mind.

It suggests inaction, rest, composure – of simply being …

Slowly, memory forms a shadow in colours of a canvas umbrella.

I know I was looking for it

But what I can’t remember,

Only that I had it yesterday

Or was it the day before

And where I misplaced it

I’m also not so sure.

It wasn’t what it looked like,

More like how it felt

When I held four aces

As my hand was dealt.

Now there’s just the joker

But that’s nowhere in the pack

And for the life of me
I just can’t find it back.

It’s simply somehow vanished

Along with the queen of hearts
So there’s no more games to play

With all my lost and missing parts.

And with my broken deck

The going’s getting hard

And the roof is caving in

In my falling house of cards.

This weekend, we had a first in-house retreat led by Pádraig Ó Tuama, poet, theologian and justice worker living and working in Northern Ireland. I think many of us found the weekend to be deeply encouraging, enchanting and envisioning. I for one came away with a sense of good dialogue and a sense of hope. I invite others who attended to add their thoughts and reflections in the comments section of this post.

We did record Pádraig’s homily to us in the Eucharist on Sunday, which will go live in the next 48 hours. So thanks to Padraig for a more dialogical and narrative retreat than many of us have experienced before.

We are hopeful to explore collaborating with the London Centre for Spirituality to run a performance cabaret with Pádraig and others in 2012. We most certainly will be inviting Pádraig back. Padraig will be performing and speaking in this years Greenbelt festival, as well as contributing to the worship programme as a member of the Ikon community in Belfast.

Following on from Grace’s post, here’s a poem I’ve been meditating on for months (since Grace shared it with me), but especially in the past few weeks.

Communion With Ignatius

Every week is the same
but not: sick and lowly,
holey head and dregs
of heart, beaten down by
the brass knuckles of day
and the swift switchblade of
night, I draw forward, stretched
like Bilbo’s buttered bread,
kicking and screaming like
Lewis in his study,
haughty fear of this meal –
my beloved disease
threatened perilously
by the medicine of
immortality, wine
and bread given in trust
of memory, the warm
hospitality of
this stranger, purified.

Rowan Williams

I looked for him among his friends

But they had forgotten where he was.

They had not seen him in many years.

I tried to find him in the pages of a book,

I prayed every night to remember him

But the memory was just too dim.

I even tried to trace his home,

The name of the street where he was born,

The town he left and where he’d gone.

I asked a priest, his doctor too,

Yet they simply didn’t have a clue.

To talk about it, his wife refused.

She seemed to suggest he was dead.

I looked in the mirror to recognise

I was head to head with his disguise.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to Grace and Hannah for organising the fête last Friday, and to Keira, Alex, Carey, Mike, Aaron, Fiona and all the others that made it such a success. It wonderfully put the church on the map, and helps us to build relationships with our neighbours. It was great that the Bean Machine, and Planet of the Grapes got involved, and that the Watling Pub gave us a bottle of champagne.

I am excited about the potential this has opened up, and the obvious skill of Mooters to make delicious and, if I may say so, fully inclusive cakes!!

I know that Grace and Hannah put a lot of work into this – and it was wonderful that I had no involvement in it, which is healthy for our community and for me.

Well done Mooters for your involvement in this.  It raised £200, £12o going into our fund raising and £80 put aside as a Samaritan fund that I believe is to be discussed at the next Community Council.

We  have now been at St Mary Aldermary for 6 months and we have achieved a lot.  Here is a snapshot.  2441 people have attended our events and services since January 2011.  Since we have extended the time we are open Monday to Friday, our visitors have increased to between 80 and 100 people a day. We face significant challenges both financially and practically in realising the Lounge Project, but we have made an excellent start, which would not be possible without such a great community.

I am now off for 2 weeks break so will not be around until after 4th Aug, so see you all soon.