"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; 
night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language 
where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Psalm 19:1-4:

As I write the the UK is in the middle of some glorious summer (I know you don't belive it, but its true!), and it seems almost sacrilege to be stuck inside buildings when there is so much beauty outside.  So the other day we decided to take our services outdoors and invited a guest speaker to unpack God's word for us, one who is always present but who's voice is often forgotten; creation. 

Now, our churchyard is blessed to be situated by a river, overlooking a meadow and facing the place where the sun sets.  So we printed out a bunch of Bible passages relating to water, handed them out, and invited people to reflect on the passages whilst looking at the river.  After about ten minutes we called people back together and asked them to share any thoughts that had come to them from the time of scriptural meditation.  This led into some really encouraging conversation as people raised reflections, questions and insights from God's word which we probably wouldn't have been aware of inside a building.

Your church may not be situated in such an idyllic setting, but how hard would it be to take a congregation or small group to a park, a wood, a garden or some other beauty spot when the weather was fine?   Take Bibles or print-outs of texts to root your reflections in scripture, and then let God's creation help you unpack what he has for you.

Sam co-leads engageworship.org with his wife Sara. He completed the LST degree in Theology, Music and Worship, and co-leads RESOUNDworship.org. He also works part time as Worship Minister at St James, Hemingford Grey, and has led musical and creative worship at events like Spring Harvest, New Wine North and the Baptist Assembly alternative stream.

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Guy Houchen

19 Jul 2010 11:59

 

Hi Sam, Used this idea yesterday - similar but no river unfortunately! We meet in a school hall and decided to take the tack that God can speak to us through the creation found where we are. So, asked everyone to leave after an initial song and find something outside in the school grounds that inspires worship through creation. People were encouraged to used their phones to take pics if inappropriate to bring back. After 10 mins we all got back together to share and pray. Also put a power point together around various bits of the bible and flickr photo's of some amazing creation in our own context. Seemed to go well?!

Sam Hargreaves

19 Jul 2010 20:35

 

Great stuff guy, sounds like a really creative way of running with idea in your context! I've uploaded the PowerPoint you mentioned into the downloads box above right.