The Methodist church makes a gift of three months away from normal duties after the first ten years of ministry and each seven years threreafter. With just over a month to go before mine starts, here is a brief overview of what I am doing:
The aim is to encounter 'non-religious' spirituality in popular culture.
The aim is to discover ways of relating the Gospel to a wider ‘audience’ which
will be of particular value in my current appointment where I have taken on
pastoral charge of a growing church in a diverse community which is
increasingly making links to those who ‘believe without belonging’
I am becoming ever more conscious of
the gulf between traditional forms of church and those ‘outside’ who have an
innate sense of spirituality but do not see this as derived from any religious
or faith experience. In the next phase of my ministry I would like to build on
contacts that are being made between church and wider community and see that a
shared understanding of what it means to be spiritual is an important place
from which to start/continue this dialogue.
This
of course is a huge topic, too wide for a PhD, let alone a three month
sabbatical! I therefore propose to focus on just one aspect which is the spiritual
experience of attending festivals. Having watched Glastonbury and others over the
years I have become interested in two things:
first, the nature of ‘pilgrimage’ which draws people to these events year on
year, and second, the lyrics of contemporary songs which often express an innate spirituality and even refer to God or the divine yet have
no faith or religious context.. What do these experiences say to the church in
21st Century?
I intend to attend three festivals; Latitude
(Suffolk) – I couldn’t get into Glastonbury!
Tramlines in Sheffield and Greenbelt (Northampton)
I am
also planning a personal retreat to Lindisfarne and Northumberland to reflect
on the difference and similarities between such a pilgrimage and the pilgrimage
of those attending the festivals.
To
provide some theoretical input I shall read a range of books which I have
started collecting on the theme and explore linked websites.
So that's the dry bit. I'm hoping the future posts will bring some news, musings and insights...
Now to get back to work..
