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This month’s collection of Parish Magazines have tumbled through my letterbox, and once again, I’m impressed with the tales of mission and ministry that happens in some many creative ways, in so many places.  This month’s good practice is as follows:

St Bartholomew Benefice: The parishes are organising some away time together, to build confidence, to get to know one another, and generally have a good time with their Christian faith.  A sailing trip to France, over the weekend of 30 September to 3 October.  If the seas doesn’t float your boat, the a trip to the Holy Land is being contemplated for 2011.  A new monthly Sunday initiative called TOAST [Time on a Sunday together] kicks off with breakfast in the School Hall at Semley, with an informal, child and family friendly expression of church.  taste and see that the Lord is good!

Arrowhead, for the parishes on Salisbury Plain, is always a good read, and a mix of community, adverts, and church activities get a blitz in the editor’s blender.  I was impressed by the Shrewton School’s Party in the Park event; the Annual Orcheston Weekend, including tractor rides and target shooting; and the Re-Cycling page, which give people the opportunity of getting rid of, or requesting various items.

Steeple and Street, for Whiteparish in the Clarendon Team, offered some great summer fun in the Parish Picnic with food and games; a May Ball for the Pepperbox Pre-school; and the Whiteparish Pony Show, with collaboration with the local riding school.  They’ve also organised a Whiteparish tidy up day, to give the whole community a chance to contribute to making their village the tidiest in the area.

Focus – on the Community is the mag for the Nadder Valley Team, and included some local articles on the Neighbourhood Policing Team’s new Community Beat Manager, and also a report from the Tisbury Watch of the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, including a really helpful guide to the role and responsibilities of a retained firefighter – essential for the rural communities.

The Open Door, the mag for St Thomas’ Ensbury Park contains a helpful page of prayers; advertises a parish visit to the Theatre in Christchurch to see “The Screwtape Letters”; some book reviews; and a great puzzles and smiles page, alongside the usual news and views of the parish church and wider community.

Thank you to all those who send me their magazines, and I look forward to receiving others too.

Yesterday offered me a rare chance to enjoy one of my hobbies that I regret gets little time at the moment – that of painting.  I was very fortunate to go on one of the Diocese’s Continuing Ministry Development [CMD] days, entitled Glimpses of Eternity – a day workshop on the making of icons.  The day ably led by Jacky Botterill, who is an experienced icon writer, and contemplative religious.  The day was held at Wren Hall, the Education Centre of the Cathedral.

Our day started with coffee, and the choosing of an image to use.  As it was the feast day of St Polycarp, I choose an image of him.  We then chose our wooden panels, which had been previously coated with 12 coats of whiting and glue,  and which only needed rubbing down to prepare the surface for painting.  The paints we used were egg tempora, which required the separating of the egg yolk from the white, and then taking the egg yolk sac, breaking the sac with a needle and draining the liquid yolk into a jar, and then discarding the sac.  The pigment can then be added to the yolk liquid and you have your paint.  Hours later, and after prayer, orthodox chanting and gallons of coffee, were admired our efforts, placed them in a temporary iconostasis, and prayed for God’s blessing on our work.

A great day, and thanks to Jacky – see her work at http://www.stella-maris-icons.co.uk/index.html  To see mine, look below! I must make more time to do this kind of work.

During the past 48 hours I have experienced two different forms of rejuvinating which did not include any surgery proceedings or loads of money.

The first was at Netheravon on Sunday, I was invovled in what is known as The Triple Decker. At one point in the service there are three different activities happening in the church for three different age groups – a creche,a Sunday school and the main service which adults attend. We are joined at the beginning and the end. This Sunday the music group played (I can’t remember if they play for every Triple Decker) and it added another dimension to the worship for me. There were electric piano, accoustic guitar, clarinet, (and here I show my ignorance) I think there was a violin and viola but it may have been two violins. With them were two singers. I was able to hear them run through the music before the service and knew that they were good but it was not until the serive that I realised how much they added to the whole. Not only with their musical skills but with choice of music. – Thank you.

The other time was Monday evening when I began my evening class in jewellery making. I was quite nervous at the beginning with the usual feelings of will I like the others, will I be less able than them, will I be able to find the place etc. By the end of the two hours I realised that all my fears were groundless and that I had spent two hours talking about creative things and finding that I can cut glass. If the rest of the weeks are like this the benefits will not only be new pieces of jewellery but a rejuvinated Rachel.

Both experiences have underlined the fact the I don’t need anything more drastic to regain my sense of balance and that for me music and creative are elements that I have to have in my life. My own small Fully Alive programme.

There are many things that I would like to be able to do in life, and many of those things are best kept in the “appreciate from a distance” category.  But I have always be the kind of person that has a go, even if I completely flunk at something I can say, at least I’ve had a go.  Later this year I shall probably add Windsurfing to that list – watch this space!!!

Today, I joined a class of people at Wren Hall, the Cathedral’s Education Dept.  They were hosting an Icon Painting Workshop, and I was pleased as anything to be there.  I turned up with my cushion – for sitting on, not for kneeling, and my manly butchers’ striped apron. 

Our tutor for the day was a lay Orthodox Christian, who has studied and practice the art of writing Icons for many years.  We learned first how to make the gesso, the white chalky size that covers the wooden board on which the Icon is written.  Twelve coats, and three days it takes – but we had some boards that had been treated previously.  Then we learned how to sand the face and edges of the board, creating clouds of white dust, so it was as smooth as satin.

Having chosen our images, we traced the main outlines, and transferred them to the board, and then, using a sharp nail, we incised the image into the plastered surface.  Then we used a simple yellow wash of egg tempera paint for the background, and a dark brown for the body and face of our image.  Lunchtime!

After lunch we learned how to make the egg tempera.  Break an egg and keep only the egg yolk in your hand.  Holding the yolk, prick the sac with a pin, and let the yolk fluid drip into a glass, keeping the egg yolk sac in your hand.  Mix with a little purified water, and you have your base for the paint.  We then learned how to grind the paint pigment into a pestle and mortar, and then add the pigment into the egg mixture. Stir well and you have your paint!

Then we used out creative juices and imaginations to create our Icon.  I chose an image of Mother Julian of Norwich [mainly because she had her eyes closed in contemplation, and she has a nun's wimple around her head!]  I was doing well, although the face was proving to be a challenge.  Then suddenly, it all came together, and judging by the ooh, arrrhs around me, people saw something in her face that gave a glimpse of the other.  My colleagues actually all did really well too, and I am pleased with the result.  I don’t think Rublev has anything to feel threatened by!

I came away, relaxed, inspired and really appreciate the work that goes into producing an Icon, and certainly want to find the time to work at this some more.

Gillian and I took a few hours this afternoon to visit the Sandham Memorial Chapel near Newbury.  Unlike many National Trust properties the Chapel is early 20th Century – built by friends for Stanley Spencer to paint!  Having served as a hospital orderly in Greece during the First World War, Spencer recounted his experiences in an ambitious set of wall paintings in the Chapel.  The most well known – the Resurrection of the Soldiers forms the backdrop to the altar.

“The Burghclere Memorial redeemed my experience from what it was, merely something alien to me.  By this means I recover my lost self.”

 The paintings are truly remarkable full of surprising details – and yet for me there was something missing.  These paintings borne out of war lacked the horror, the pain, the dirt of warfare.  They are clean, almost antiseptic.  In her book, Wellbeing, Alison Webster draws a distinction between a sanitised world where we simply to brush all the dirt out of sight under the carpet, and a healthy world which acknowledges the pain, the suffering, the mess and the grime and holds it.  For me Spencer’s world seem more sanitised than healthy.

‘The Resurrection of the Soldiers’ is reminiscent of a medieval Doom picture – but it is all resuscitation – no judgment, no redemption and therefore no resurrection. 

A sanitised world can seem highly attractive, and yet ultimately wholeness and wellbeing comes through acceptance and integration, not through rejection and expulsion.

I was delighted to be invited to the opening of ‘A Brush with Faith’ – an exhibition of contemporary Christian art hosted by the churches in Marlborough.  Full details are at www.marlboroughanglicanteam.org.uk.  It’s on until the 14th October.  Don’t miss the opportunity.   The paintings all draw on episodes from the life of Christ.  Some left me cold, others really moved me.  One in particular would look very good on the lounge wall here at Southbroom! 

There is a huge amount of exciting Christian art around at the moment.  Well done to the Marlborough Churches for organising the exhibition which is drawn from the Modern Christian Art Collection of the Methodist Church.