Godly Play Italia

Some Fridays I think it's ok to feel just a little smug and pleased. I've set the sunday school programme for the next 5 months and ordered Godly Play resources for the whole 5 months. This is because today I got very wet trying to buy felt in the centre of Florence (pashminas win again as substitutes but they are still more expensive).

I only know of one other person using some GP in Italy, in Italian. Sadly, the American church has stopped runing GP sessions - I had hoped to be able to borrow their resources. GP needs a good name in Italian, something that will appeal to the protestant churches because I have a feeling that "play" could be too frivilous a thing. GP itself could well be viewed as too catholic, as it has a sacramental focus and enjoys exploring traditional symbols. As I (and others that I find to volunteer) translate the language, we will need to try and translate some of the culture too --- and that is what makes working outside your own culture difficult/interesting/entertaining/embarrassing/challenging (delete according to your experience this week!)

Ecumene and Interculturality

I have been fortunate to enjoy a lovely break away for the training organised for "young" ministers and international ministers. (Young as in, in ministry for less than 4 years). I travelled to Rome and quickly left again to the satellite commuter town of Velletri. On the hills outside town is Ecumene, a youth/retreat/conference centre owned and run by the Methodist Church. It is mostly quiet (there's a neighbourhood dog that tends to bark at night and we had an incredible wind storm), with well-kept premises, grounds and wonderful cooking. We were the only group so could occur the snug bar with large wood fire without interrupting anyone else.

The theme of the week was being a pastor in a multicultural church. Italy, like other countries in Europe (including UK) is struggling to adapt to being a country of immigration. For the churches, the challenge is not only how to welcome a handful of migrants, but in some places, how to create an identity for a church that can be bi-cultural, with the Italians in the minority. There was a clear desire for communal worship to be in Italian, with many churches offering free language lessons to the whole community. There are tensions between churches that offer two services (Italian and the English) and churches who experiment with largely Italian worship, but the preaching that re-offered in English, by an African (usually Ghanaian) preacher. So many models, so much to celebrate, and still, many struggles. But who said that the Kingdom of God was going to be easy?

Being creative, worshipping together

I've always found it easiest to be creative about worship when planning in a group: people give you reality checks on your weirdest ideas and develop your fledgling ones.
In Italy, we have a circuit, but it seems to be a theoretical, academica exercise - perhaps Toscana is simply too big to have a united sense of mission. But the effect is that worship appears to me to be in the hands of the pastor alone. Few Local Preachers, no Worship Leaders, no Worship Consultations and no Circuit Services that require collaboration.

So, you are invited to inspire our creative Tuesday night worship! The "brief" is below, please contribute!


Theme: All Saints/All Souls - a new look at the traditional festival and an antidote for today's Hallowe'en festivities.

Ideas so far:
Light candles in memory of someone
Ask people to reflect on their legacy (but not sure how)

Suggestions welcomed for: worship songs, prayers, prayer stations/activities

Thank you! Alison

Understanding difference

Here is an excellent explanation of the differences between Italy and the rest of Europe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWNGLv8w74

Trying to live the God way Inspite of, despite of and because of the church

Today we launch the english speaking service @Via de' Benci (if you've missed the publicity then pop over to www.englishlanguageworship.blogspot.com and if you're in Florence, see you at 7pm!).

It is fair to say that the summer has been frustrating because the italian church simply disappears up mountains and to the coast - living the poor pastor to sweat it out in the city! (actually we did well by taking holiday in July and going to Sinodo in August). It means that I have barely spoken to the congregation for 2 months, and not seen some of them for 3 months. It kinda makes you ask: why I am here? why I am bothering?

So hopefully September brings us another fresh start, a new way of working and being in contact. John Cooper pointed out this blog - Journey through the field of life - so thanks to tractorgirl for this reminder, rallying call and realism.

I am old skool

because I sit in church on a Sunday morning

I am old skool

because I am immersed in the culture

I am old skool

because I’m not “dechurched” or ”unchurched”

I am old skool

because I like to sing “And Can it be”

I am old skool

because I’m doing the “trad” LPT training

I am old skool

because I believe the church belongs to God, but also all those within it

I am old skool

because I like pews and structure

I am old skool

because I’ve moved on from a desire

to be part of a “post-evo”, “emerging” collective

And settled happily into “the mainstream”

Yet I am new skool

because I live on the net; blogging, social networking and generally surfing

I am new skool

because I network with peeps within and beyond

I am new skool

because I live inclusivity

I am new skool

because I look and live “out there”

I am new skool

because I have chosen to cut the crap

I am new skool

because I recognise that the church will die

if we don’t do something

and so am ready to step out of the box

I am beyond your collectives and emerging vision

I am not cool

I simply believe in worship and mission

I’ll work with you and network with you

Whether you’re young or old

New skool or old skool

I am one of the many

Faceless, nameless mixing it up

Trying to live the God way

Inspite of, despite of and because of

the church

http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/blog/2010/09/if-heaven-2-by-rosie-miles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greenbelt%2Fblog+%28Greenbelt+Blog%29

Really sad that we missed Greenbelt this year - again! We did instead spend time in beautiful Torre Pellice for the Methodist-Waldensian "sinodo" (aka Conference), but the coffee stall was a poor substitute for the Tiny Tea Tent! So, instead, this poem has evoked the sights (and smells) of GB 2010.


http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/blog/2010/09/if-heaven-2-by-rosie-miles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greenbelt%2Fblog+%28Greenbelt+Blog%29

Ferragosto - bit like a bank holiday

We have been in Florence for nearly a year and still parts of Italian culture and practise remain very strange to me.

For example, today. Typically for a bank holiday weekend, yesterday was rain and thunderstorms but today the sky is once again blue. "Ferragosto" is the name for the festival of assumption (or ascension) of Mary. It's a festival that has previously passed me by, as it isn't exactly a Protestant occasion (but for more on that, see below).

"Ferragosto" may come from the latin for a holiday to celebrate Emperor Augustine, but the Catholic/Orthodox/Anglican festival has different roots.

In San Marco Convento (home of the beautiful murals by Fra. Angelico including the famous Annunciation) is also a small art museum. There for the first time I saw a sequence of paintings of gospel scenes which culminated in the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven. Strange, I thought, as I've not read that in any canonical gospel! When, during a general conversation at language school, I related my confusion that this Crowning is not a gospel story the teacher (a non-practising Catholic) was quite adamant that it had to be!

And so today, I've paid a little more attention than normal to the meaning behind the day of holiday. The theory seems to be that Mary is the fulfilment of the promise of the general resurrection. Christ is the first-fruits of the resurrection from the dead, and the assumption of Mary is our proof. There is no canonical biblical evidence for this, although a quick google reveals a few biblical one-liners that are interpreted through the lens of Mariology. Quite honestly, this seems to me to be the worst kind of hermeneutical twisting.

The Catholic Church has remained imprecise about the details of the assumption. It is possible to believe that Mary died, was resurrected and then ascended, or that she ascended directly to heaven without dying. It seems to depend on quite what you believe about the sinlessness of Mary - if she is sinless, she cannot die so ascends directly. If you take this view, you may believe that "original sin" did not apply to Mary, and thus when Jesus is described as the "new Adam", Mary becomes the "new Eve". The Anglican Church again holds a variety of viewpoints: you may recognise the death of Mary, or you may hold either of the Catholic Church perspectives.

Besides wondering what on earth it means to compare mother and son with Adam and Eve, none of this made any difference in the Methodist church this morning. We are still enjoying the presence of the brothers and sisters from the Chiesa Valdese (and with only 1 Methodist in the congregation of 16 this morning, they are essential!). We were also confronted once again by the needs of the Romanian community here on the streets of Florence and the surrounding area. It is impossible to know how to respond when people ask for money to pay accommodation, or for a bus fare home, or, in one case, to pay a loan secured on the family home in Romania. The loan, for a reasonable substantial sum, was taken out to repatriate his father's body. To me, to take out the loan seems to have been a foolish decision, but what we do with bodies matters profoundly, what we believe about bodies is fundamental to our existence. Whether or not Mary ascended does affect what we believe about our life after death and about how we deal with "earthly remains". The impact of one funeral could see his family made homeless. At least believing in the assumption of Mary means that there has been no search for her body. It is very sad that cultural expectations about death are about to fall harshly on the living.