Wandering and Wondering to discover God in the Garden
Pentecost is often viewed as the birthday of the church and in East Vale Ministry Area they celebrated in style with an interactive, trilingual outdoor Eucharist.
‘God in the Garden’ took place in the beautiful grounds of Tŷ Llwyd Farmhouse, in the village of St George’s, bringing people together in the sunshine to use all of their senses to worship God.
The outdoor Eucharist was celebrated by Rev’d Rhian Linecar and Rev’d Amanda Thomas in English and Welsh, with our Diocesan Deaf Community Outreach Worker, Nicola Roylance, translating into BSL. Bubble wrap, string and bubbles were used to explore new ways to pray, engage different senses and help people to discover more about themselves and God. There were also quiet spots to take time and space to reflect.
Ordinand Rachel Petley led an interactive story-telling session, involving props and a session which made use of the garden’s beautiful stream. Worshippers were asked to take a rock, hold it in their hand and reflect on things that distract them, their regrets or anything that gets in the way of their friendship with God. They then dropped the stones into the stream to symbolise letting these things go, and being washed clean by God.
Rachel says, “With three languages, glorious sunshine, flags, streamers, cake and bubbles in a beautiful place – ‘God in the Garden’ was an absolute joy to be a part of.
We explored how we relate to God through prayer with different activities and spaces in the garden, had the opportunity to let go of things that get in the way of our relationship with God, told the Pentecost story through words, craft and actions and came together to celebrate round God’s table with Communion.
It was wonderful to see the young and the not-so-young engaging together and learning from each other – those who usually attend church and some who don’t - and so beautifully appropriate for Pentecost to have BSL being used alongside both Welsh and English throughout the whole event.”
Lead Growth Enabler Angela Clarke said, “It was an absolute privilege to support this truly intergenerational event, which explored new and innovative ways to spend time with God.
Amongst all the activities it was also really lovely to have quiet spaces where people could just sit quietly and reflect on all the beauty around us. It was such a fabulous way to spend Pentecost!
As a team we’re really passionate about working with churches to create exciting pop-up events like this one. God in the Garden is such a good example of the church existing outside the confines of a building, and we’d love to work with any churches who would like to grow or develop new worship communities.”
If you have an idea you’d like to discuss with our team of Growth Enablers you can contact Angela on angelaclarke@churchinwales.org.uk. If you’d like more information about future events from the team at East Vale Ministry Area you can follow them on Facebook, or visit their website.