The Liquid Service.

Judging by the amount of coffee consumed the service was aptly named. James and his team coped well with an unknown quantity. He had invited people to turn up to whichever part of the morning they wanted- and even leave when they felt like it. It was rather brave mentioning that straight after the breakfast(which was excellent) but happily the level of interest was such that numbers only increased as the morning progressed.

The morning was guided by the ideas in the Emaeus Course , aimed at revisiting the ideas in Christianity. Initially we all watched a DVD clip about wanting things, asking for things as children do, and then pondered the idea - does God give us what we ask for. Then we split into three groups. The children went to Shipshape and one group discussed homelessness.

James had spent the previous night under the stars on the Sponsored Sleepout and spoke about the negative attitude of many towards the homeless. As he pointed out, even Christians can find themselves destitute. It’s not simply a problem caused by drink and drugs. The third group shared the challenge of responding to the question, do you believe in God, and could you justify your belief. Even in a group of church-goers, many professed to having doubts but many also said that it was the unfolding of events in their lives that comforted them that God was real. One person used the analogy of weather. It can be calm and everything can seem to be going well, so that believing is easy. But all of a sudden a storm can spring up and maintaining your faith can be very difficult. Many people could identify with that. I took part in this group and found talking in pairs helped me crystallise my ideas before sharing them with a large group.

      

It was a pity that constraints of the timetable meant that we had to wind up the discussion just as really interesting things were being said. We reconvened and each group had a spokesman who summarised what had been said. The children showed us what they had been doing and we all took part in their responsive story, booing appropriately !

By 10:30 the normal service was ready to begin in a relaxed and thoughtful way.

Thanks to everyone who did something to make this a successful morning.