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Encountering
Jesus - a series exploring various people’s meetings with Jesus
Sunday 24th October 2004
– Wesley Memorial
The Rich Young Ruler
Sunday 5th December 2004
– Lime Walk
The Syro-Phoenician Woman
Sunday 13th February
2005 - Kidlington
The Pharisees
Sunday 24th April 2005
– Wesley Memorial
Prayer Labyrinth
For the 2004/5 season
of events, we will be taking various encounters people had with Jesus,
exploring the issues raised and reflecting on what they have to say to us
today. Each session will begin with a presentation of the reading and an
examination of some of the themes that arise from it, using drama,
multi-media and visual imagery, and spoken word. There will then be space
for individual reflection and engagement, aided by the various prayer
stations around the church, followed by a chance to share thoughts,
insights and views over coffee. There will then be a short concluding
session together before we pack up the church and go and find some
ice-cream at G&D’s ice-cream parlour.
Everyone is welcome
to all our events. They begin at 7:30pm and we aim to finish about 9pm. This season they are taking
place at a number of the Methodist churches in and around Oxford so please check the venue
above! Please email
for travel details, if required.
Past Events
Sunday 13th June 2004
What do I really believe?
On
this occasion, we examined the core of our faith and the things we really
believe. We looked at the way people’s understanding of God has
changed over time and the way we, too, grow in understanding as we learn
more about God and encounter him day by day. We then reflected on our current
understanding and encouraged everyone to write a creed for themselves which
sums up their faith. Through a
number of prayer stations, people were asked to test their creed against
various criteria and situations. If I believe what I say, how does this
affect my relationships? What about the world in which I live? How much am
I shaped by events? How much influence do I have? And what role does my
creed play? What about the church? What happens when the personal and the
corporate clash? And if there are core beliefs we all hold as a community,
how does that shape the way we should be
church?
Sunday 7th March 2004
Sunday 25th January 2004
An evening’s TV entertainment
Launching our own TV
channel, this evening used the format of a typical evening’s viewing to
explore the issues of choice and how these should be informed by the
covenant we have with God. With our very own game show, Songs of Praise,
Points of View, adverts, news and music, people were given the chance to
reflect on the choices we make, the motivation behind them and how those
choices can really make a difference, both to us and to others. In true
interactive TV style, there was also a choice of viewing when three
interactive workshops were held – one on prayer, one on engaging with
the Bible and one on relating our faith to the work we do.
Sunday 30th November 2003
Waiting on God – Advent Prayer
Labyrinth
Our plans for this
evening involved creating an Advent Prayer Labyrinth and inviting people to
walk with the wise men on a journey to visit the manger. After a short
introduction and word of explanation, people were introduced into the
labyrinth and then allowed to proceed in their own time. Using imagery,
multi-media, symbolic action, music, peace and quiet, the labyrinth
provided people space in which to prepare themselves for the coming of the
Christ-child and encounter God in a new and fresh way. The journey through
the labyrinth took, on average, about an hour. For some, it was less
– for others, more. Coffee was available both before and afterwards,
along with a chance to share with others thoughts on the whole experience.
Sunday 28th September 2003
Creation: Joys and Responsibilities
Having celebrated our
Harvest Festival in the morning, our subject on this occasion was creation.
As well as rejoicing in the world which God has given us, we reflected,
too, on our responsibilities and what it means to be good stewards of
God’s creation. There was singing, music and video reminding us of
the richness of God’s creation, drama, and a chance to do some clay
modelling as we examined what it feels like to actually create something
for ourselves. This evening’s prayer stations included a green corner
where people could reflect on ecological issues and ask themselves how
“green” they really are, a justice corner examining issues of
Trade Justice, a creativity corner in which we provided the materials and
invited people to be as creative as their imagination allowed, and our own
very special “Garden of Eden” complete with pond, a chance to
enjoy God’s creation.
Sunday 6th July 2003
Trusting in doubt
On this occasion, we
explored doubt and looked at how the doubts that we have can play a
constructive part in our faith. We experienced what it is to be confused,
members of the team shared some of their doubts, and, using the film Titanic,
we examined what it means to trust. Through our prayer stations, there was
a chance to express our questions and doubts and bring them together in the
making of a mosaic cross, there was the opportunity to reflect on the one
issue which cause the most difficulty, that of a suffering world, there was
the chance to examine the building blocks of our faith
(bible/reason/tradition/experience) and explore how they relate to us
individually, there were meditations on relaxing with and trusting in God,
and there was our, now, usual quiet corner, where there are no words but,
instead, a place beyond words, a place just to be with God.
“Faith is living with questions
without being afraid” (Richard Holloway)
Sunday 11th May 2003
Breaking bread, breaking barriers
Taking the Emmaus Road experience as our starting
point, we explored the way Jesus often surprises us and how he can shatter
our illusions, bringing new insights and fresh encounters. In particular,
we related this to communion and the many ways our celebration of communion
can be understood and experienced. After an initial worship session led by
the G3 band, we explored the theme through drama. This, in turn,
led onto the thanksgiving itself, expressed through words and images. After
the breaking of the bread, people were invited to visit the various prayer
stations around the church. Among other things, these explored communion as
a political statement, what do we mean by re-membrance,
communion in the context of covenant, and “what communion means to
me”. There was the opportunity to share bread and wine at each point.
We then gathered together again for a closing worship session, culminating
in the sharing of the peace and the invitation to share the remaining
elements with each other, both those known to us and those who are
strangers.
Sunday 19th January 2003
Where now, God?
Our subject on this
occasion was our calling to follow God wherever he leads, looking
particularly at where God wants to take us this year, both as individuals
and as a church community. After an initial time of worship, we used an
extract from The Fellowship of the
Ring to look at how God chooses us to do the tasks that need to be
done, rather than the other way round. We can’t always choose the
events of our lives but we can choose how we will act when those events
occur. We looked at how God has called people across the ages, often using
the most unlikely people for the job. With reference to the parable of the sower, we explored our response to that call, a call
that embraces not only the “what shall I do with my life?” type
questions but also the small, everyday issues. What does God want me to do
with regard to my neighbour – next door, at work, at school, in the
street? There was then time for people to interact with the various prayer
stations around the church, during which coffee and biscuits were served.
There was a quiet corner – a chance to get away from words and just
sit quietly with God; a remoulding corner – a chance to reflect on
what it is to be moulded and remoulded by God; a meditation corner –
a reflection on the idea that we are called to be a feather on the breath
of God; and a resolution corner – a chance to make some New Year
resolutions, both for ourselves and for the world at large. We concluded
with a closing worship session.
Sunday 17th November 2002
Reconciliation
The theme for this
service was Reconciliation and we
looked at both our need to be reconciled with God and the need for
reconciliation in the world at large. After a time of worship led by the G3
worship band, we examined the story of the prodigal son using drama and
images to explore what it has to say to us today before moving on to look
at our relationships with others, using the story of the unforgiving
servant. Over coffee and biscuits there was a chance to share with one
another, as well as to interact with various “prayer stations”
around the church. These included the chance to do something positive by
writing to people in power about others who are being abused, the
opportunity to reflect on our own lives and symbolically free ourselves
from the sins which bind us, the chance to reflect on and pray for the
situation in Iraq, and, through pictures, quotes and reflections, ponder on
the meaning of Christian forgiveness. There was then a concluding session
in which we brought all our prayers and hopes for the world together and
committed ourselves to playing our part in being peacemakers and working
towards reconciliation throughout the world.
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