QuartzForest Church and Light in the darkness We have spent a year getting to know the Crichton estate now. Those of us who have met each month certainly have a better feel for the place, and we have got to know each other better too. We didn’t exclusively meet on the estate, and so this […]
Those interested in pioneer ministry will hopefully be recognise many common ways of working in this article (and perhaps even identify glimmers of micro-gospels). The article is about creative placemaking, and a phrase which stood out to me is: “The common thread amongst various definitions, however, is that it is a process that helps to […]
On Sunday the 30th of October 2022 at 6pm we will be gathering in St John’s church building. The clocks will be changing to mark the end of British Summer time. The Nights are getting longer and darker, and the trees are drawing into themselves, letting go of their fruit and leaves. Seeds are buried […]
Here is a video made by Simon as part of his chaplaincy work with Dumfries High School. It was used during mental health week, with an introduction linking the advice given by Jesus to reflect on what is important, and the way in which our social media feed can drag our attention down unhealthy paths. […]
Most of life is filled with questions about “what”and “how”. What do you want to do to day? How will we manage that? Then someone will answer the first question with “For everyone to be happy” or “to have fun” and the second question often becomes very difficult to answer. This may be because a […]
Here is a video clip produced as a collaboration between Alison and Kate. for the intercessions at an evening service in St John’s Dumfries we were encouraged to write prayers on long bandages. Then we wrapped them round a globe as an act of prayer. Kate videoed the finished glob and sung a song by […]
Some more thoughts by Alison, blogged by Simon for Quartz. Read part (I) here. In the first of these reflections Alison described encountering God “Sitting on a bench looking out at the Solway restores my soul, and through it I sense a spiritual truth and reality. In this place it comes naturally to me as […]
From our discussions, some observations from Alison, blogged by Simon for Quartz. If you think about it, in the bible we meet God as a bush, or at least Moses does in his story. We also meet God as a bird descending onto a humans head in the story of the baptism of Jesus. Of […]
For those of you who are reading through the Psalms, here is Jeremy Irons reading them for you. https://jeremyirons.net/2019/04/23/jeremy-irons-reads-the-psalms/ They were recorded for the BBC and are read as poetry, with some music to accompany them.
Lock down forced a lot of people to spend more time with a few people in a small physical area. It also expanded the daily lives to catch up with old friends who are geographically distant (for those of us connected online at least). Another recent experience is the growth of staycationing, slow tourism, and […]