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April 5th

Today was the second of a series looking at the lives of influential Christians. This month Saint Aiden.

We began with music and joined in singing “I the Lord of sea and sky” which together with “When I survey the wondrous cross” set the scene for the morning.

Alex led us in a time of prayer and reflection, followed by the second of a series looking at the lives of influential Christians or “Heroes of Faith”

We had a very interesting short talk from Barbara R about St. Aiden, an early Celtic monk who founded a monastery on the Island of Lindisfarne and re-established Christianity in Northumbria around AD 535. Aiden was well known for his ascetic practices and great gentleness.

A reading from Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20 helped us to understand how he saw God’s purpose for his life.

There was a very popular table with Celtic patterns involving great concentration and repeated over and round, under and over again!
Some concentrated on drawing and design

Others tried their hand at weaving or stitching. Over and under and over again! Not easy!!

For those who preferred it there were Celtic patterns to colour!!

Whenever one needed a break, the coffee was plentiful with flapjack, crispy nests; also wonderful Celtic Knot cheese biscuits, thank you Vikki for designing and hand crafting them.

The Celtic Knot Biscuit

Intricate and intriguing woven knot, a circle encircled,
interlinking loops on an infinite journey,
leading me along the path of life with God beside me all the way.

Our deconstructed bits of life,
large or small,
curved and twisted
can be reshaped, reformed, regenerated
influenced by God’s purpose.

© Barbara Rolison April 2022 Kingdom Arts

To aid concentrated private prayer or meditation, there was a table with a wooden labyrinth for finger tracing.

A slide show with scenes from Lindisfarne and the surrounding area was for browsing along with a book with illustrations of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

The craft activity from last month continued with block printing, based on the designs on the colourful African fabrics, as well as a table with materials for applique, a beautiful and delicate stitch craft.

The designs were again taken from a small portion of African fabric pattern.

The creative juices flowed on the writing station and there are new pieces for you read.

Past Present Future

The expectation of Spring fills the air
Mixing up yellows and blues and swirling petals
In the gusts of God’s breath.
New growth, new life
Can we feel blessed?
Ignoring artificial trappings dispelling arguments and wars
Letting the shadow of the cross fill our lives every moment
Hearing those cries of understanding
And Jesus’ gifts of love comfort and forgiveness
Echoing from the past for us today
And forever.
© Helen Mc Nicholl Kingdom Arts 05/04/22

At the end of the morning there was the opportunity to share our work and feelings – plus a final song sung to a traditional Celtic melody which many of you will recognise.

for those who like to know – the song is accompanied by Sue on a penny whistle and Trevor playing a shruti (an Indian instrument, I’m told).

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Our next meeting is planned for Tuesday May 10th from 9.30, with the enticing prospect of a home-made soup lunch!!

Please come and join us, but do check this site or our Facebook page before your journey to make sure the session is not cancelled!

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March 8th

Today was the first of a series looking at the lives of influential Christians and we began with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Jan B talked to us about the life and determination of this most charismatic man – really interesting, and well worth researching if you know little of the man.

His influence in moving Christianity forward, particularly in South Africa, was amazing, from very humble beginnings which he never forgot.

Today’s theme was based on Africa

The morning’s activities included two activities inspired by African designs and prints:-

Printing by hand – based on the designs on the colourful African fabrics laid out in the centre isle with African artefacts. This will continue next month.

Appliqué – a beautiful and delicate stitch craft. The designs were taken from a small portion of African fabric pattern.

Rainbow spinners – as the colours of the spinners combined, they reminded us that all people, whatever their appearance or creed, can live together and share our world – even if it often doesn’t happen. An activity which took many of us back to childhood and caused much merriment and excitement in twirling a rainbow coloured revolving disk.

Work in progress:-

Finished:-

African drumming and songs – Sue led a drumming workshop in the Magdalene room where we learned two African songs and played a variety of drums and percussion, which became the finale at our sharing at the end of the morning with an opportunity for everyone to join in and sing and dance!

Rehearsal

Performance – including spinners (and dancing???)

Butterflies – a sign of hope – something we all need.

Carolyn was inspired to write this:-

When we see butterflies
And hear the hum of insects
As they hover among the flowers
And the tall, windblown grasses
And feel the gentle caress of the warm breeze,
Then, O Lord, our hearts are raised in joy
And thanksgiving.

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It was an uplifting morning with plenty of fun for all.

Unfortunately, our thoughts also turned to the world problems and Ukraine. Our time of worship including prayers for God’s support and guidance for the world leaders during this difficult time. Let us all pray that a solution may be found soon.

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Our next meeting is planned for Tuesday April 5th from 9.30.
Please come and join us, but do check this site or our Facebook page before your journey to make sure the session is not cancelled!

It is our aim to return to longer meetings including lunch as soon as we can.

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February 8th

Our first meeting of the year began with coffee [or tea], delicious homemade Shrewsbury biscuits, and a chance to meet with friends or talk with someone new; a most welcome interlude for those who felt able to join in.

Alex called us together to celebrate with songs of praise led by our musicians and we began with:

The light that shines is the light of love.
Lights the darkness from above.

This introduced the theme of “Light in our Darkness”. Readings and prayer helped us to be reflective, as we considered how God shone His light in our lives. Soon we were ready for a chance to express ourselves in art, craft or model making.

The Lego table was surrounded with enthusiasts in their eagerness to build a lighthouse! – proving a little more challenging than expected. The result was an unusually colourful structure but complete with an amazing revolving light.

The craft activity using black and white allowed free expression by cutting out shapes within a black square and displaying these on white paper.

There was a table with pastels for blending and also brightly coloured paper to make a picture.

These were all displayed at the end of the morning around a circle representing darkness into light.

There was a chance to talk about our work and how we felt. Sharing experiences with each other is a valuable part of each session and where we are able to show appreciation of skills and ideas.

The idea of a special Jubilee recipe book was discussed so watch this space!

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Our next meeting is planned to be on Tuesday March 8th from 9.30.
Please come and join us, but do check this site or our Facebook page before your journey to make sure the session is not cancelled!

It is our aim to return to longer meetings including lunch as soon as we can.

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December 14th

This month, our session began with a short period of worship to reflect the season of Advent and the forthcoming Christmas jubilations.

Songs -“Light of the world” was followed by “Adore”; a reading from a new translation of Luke, the more modern language helped us to focus anew on the story of the Birth of Jesus; and a time of prayer and reflection led by Alex; after which Sue and Vicky introduced a range of interesting Christmas crafts for us to try.

There were well spaced tables [with sanitiser] where crafting took place.
These included exquisite patterns for tiny cross stitch;

tissue paper for collage pictures on Christmas cards

and potato printing for home-made wrapping paper. Everyone enjoyed their activities and continued their conversations.

We also continued toward completion of the installation of strings of suspended flying butterflies. A delicate structure which will be truly lovely.

Also, we had a wonderful display of Nativity sets from countries around the world laid out before us on the floor and a warm welcome was extended to all who came. There were interesting stories about where they had come from or why they were significant.

At the end of the morning we gathered with lit candles in a quiet atmospheric circle to sing the Graham Kendrick song “Like a candle flame” and receive words of blessing.

We wish you all

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Our next meeting is planned to be on Tuesday January 11th from 9.30.
Please come and join us, but do check this site or our Facebook page before your journey to make sure the session is not cancelled!

It is our aim to return to longer meetings including lunch as soon as we can.

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November 9th

A warm welcome was extended to all who came, with an eye-catching display of items and memories of the past 18 months and of course bottomless coffee.

Our Kingdom Arts worship began with a song of praise “Strength will rise” followed by “Faithful One so unchanging”. The wonderful musicians played and sang with joy and enthusiasm encouraging us all to join in.

We continued with words of Hope from the scriptures and I felt particularly moved by the words from Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Following a time of prayer and reflection we shared more wonderful stories and memories from lockdown – including painting, sewing, decorating, and learning to play music and sing.

We continued by expanding our collection of butterflies for an installation to represent Hope.

There were well spaced tables [with hand sanitiser] where crafting took place.

There were folded butterflies, cut out butterflies, paper, sewn and origami butterflies to name but a few methods of construction.

The collection is numbering hundreds and will look amazing.

We ended with a blessing.

It is hoped that this installation will be completed by our next meeting on December 14th from 9.30 to 12.30 when we celebrate with the theme of Christmas! Please come and join us.

It is our aim to return to longer meetings including lunch in the New Year (hopefully!)

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