In this workshop, taking place on Saturday 14 July from 10.30am to 4pm, we will look at ways we can cultivate the spiritual postures within our Rhythm of Life. A life of faith is not something we float through on a cloud unaware; it is the mindful process of letting God change us, letting him develop our spiritual sensitivity toward the things of God and his kingdom.

The spiritual postures help us become aware of God’s activity in and around us, as well as putting us in a better place to be transformed by God’s active love. Using our available knowledge and understanding of ourselves, we explore practical ways to adopt the spiritual postures of mindfulness, openness, gratitude, expectancy, wonder, compassion and obedience.

Along the way we will also discover a deep source of wellbeing; the postures position us to nourish ourselves and others. We will consider also the deeper significance of finding balance in our lives, and at how the postures feed our spiritual practices.

This training course will be run by Pete Johnson, Therapist, trained meditator and Senior Pastor of the Moot Community.

Please bring a packed lunch.

To book a place on this event, please click here.

This amazing film is out next Friday. Gabriel Garcia Bernal plays a film director trying to portray the injustices commited by Christopher Columbus, but blind to the same injustices blowing up around him and his crew in what fast becomes the now infamous Water War in Bolivia of 2000.

A preview screening is happening at the Venezualan Embassy this Wednesday at 7.30 – near Goodge St – tickets are a tenner or £8 concessions. Anyone want to come? I’ve just seen it but it’s so phenomenal I’m very up for going again. Get in touch with me or leave a comment here.

I am really pleased to say that my new book comes out this month.  This has been a labour of painful love bringing this book to birth in a form that I am happy with.  This is a rewrite with new content the book ‘Becoming of G-d’ I wrote ages ago.  This one is much closer to what I was trying to do.

The book explores the whole place of knowing and the important of trans-rational knowing along side the rational.  The book suggests that a recovery of the Trinity will enable a deep, rich life of spirituality and faith lived out in and by communities seeking to join in God’s love and mission, and follow the way of Chris in today’s complicated world.

We now live in a glocal world where the global and local meet, and Christianity finds itself as one form of spirituality in our new inter-spiritual world.  The Trinity then gives us a foundation and platform to enter into this increasingly pluralistic world.  This book comes out reflective practice as being part of the Moot Community.  For order info for the book click here.

The book’s cover is the Moot Ikon that Michael L Radcliffe made for us, and included poetry by Padraig, Mike and others.

I am hoping to organise two book launches and lectures – in London hopefully in the Spirituality Centre, and in a Norther City yet to be confirmed.

Somewhere in an undisclosed location in South London, there will be cheeky yellow flowers, bringing hope and hilarity to bored office workers.

I’ve been sprinkling sun flower seeds (the ones from a service about a month ago – cheers Grace! ) in boring flower beds that I come across during by daily routine, and there’s good news people! They are sprouting! I’m going to keep you updated on the progress.

Top secret OK? You heard nothing. I was never here. I wonder if I can post this anonymously…..

I have just returned to London after attending a really interesting Course and Conference. Amongst the speakers was Nicola Slee a feminist theologian and poet. Amongst the many metaphors she offered – she talked about many people today having a vocation around being an edge-dweller and the calling for communities of edge-dwellers.

For those who attended the Moot SMA AGM last Sunday, you will know that I used this same image, where I think I articulated the paradox of the Moot Communities vocation to be an Edge-dwelling Community, but where I think God was calling us to be on the inside of the edge to each other, to be present to each other, and get beyond the ‘keeping each other distant’ approach we have used thus far with each other.

I really like the idea of Moot as Edge-Dwelling – because it is radically mission minded.  TO do this we need to keep one foot in the world, understanding contemporary society and its struggles, and listening and participating in it, and the second being in the Church and hearing its stories and challenges.  This is our calling of the post-everything world.  This is our challenge, because as we know real change and vitality begins at the edge, and the Holy Spirit has been known to be present at these edges.

So what does this mean?  Well I think we articulate it well in the aspirations of our Rhythm of Life – being present to each other, to creation, to society, to ourselves and to God.  And to hold onto the yearning of catching up with God that seeks to restore all things back into relationship where edges and gaps are filled with hope and generous hospitality.

The Community is also in need of people to actually help plan and prepare for this service, whether before hand as part of a working group or to help set up on the day. If you would like to help, please contact us here.

Just in case you have not seen it we have a number of new opportunities for those seeking experience or work with the new Host Cafe of the Moot Community at the Guild Church of St Mary Aldermary.

For more information -please click here.

As we approach the London Mayoral Elections, I would ask Mooters to reflect on the findings on the campaign group My Fair London.  London is fast becoming the most unequal City in London, which says a lot about many things including some blindness about poverty and injustice.  Rightly, My Fair London has been addressing the policy position of candidates, and I would encourage all Christians to consider their analysis.

Now more than ever we need a strong democracy to hold accountability of local and national government, particularly in the hard fought for areas of welfare and health for those less fortunate than ourselves.  So see the link above.

I also had their latest press briefing

Final Press Release – Boris Wont Sign

For almost the last 20 years, a group of us have dreamt about the possibility of creating an arts cafe lounge as a place of Christian spiritual encounter. We are now right on the verge of making this a reality in the context of Moot at the Guild Church of St Mary Aldermary.

Nearly eight years ago now, participants of the Moot Community committed to realise a number of aspects they felt God was calling Moot to become:

1. Become a New Monastic Community with aspirations, spiritual practices and postures.
2. Seek to move Moot to buildings of the Church of England, and set up an arts cafe as the locus of Moot arts and spirituality events.
3. Develop a weekly Sunday evening regular Moot Service in central London.
4. Provide events for the un and de-churched regarding worship, mission and community activities.
5. Seek to become an Acknowledged Religious Community.

At our Annual General Meeting this Sunday, we will be looking to fulfil the first five of these important aspects of our life. This leaves the final item around seeking to become an Acknowledged Religious Community, which is an area being discussed at a National level at the moment. We will in time seek permission from the Archdeacon and Bishop of London to begin the discernment process for this last aspect to be realised.

So this Sunday, if you perceive yourself as a participant in the Moot Community, or have recently become a spiritual traveller with us, please do come along this sunday for our annual general meeting to talk through our vision and plans for the year ahead, as well as review the outcome of activities over the last year. We will begin with food at 3.30pm.

This month our Living the Questions Group will be exploring the whole theme of evolution, creation and the Bible. We will be meeting at 7.30pm Tues 24th April in the Vestry office of St Mary Aldermary – entry at back door on Watling Street (up the steps).

Living the Questions is the opportunity for those who have some form of Christian experience who want to the able to ask difficult questions or who are looking for a safe space to deconstruction/reconstruct. For more info click here