Inspirational Letter 4th Sunday After Trinity - Happy Anniversaries

Its clearly a year for significant anniversaries (and thank you for the lovely messages we received last weekend) Locally and wonderfully Aardman have just celebrated fifty years of making great animations - imagine a world without Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Feathers McGraw, not to mention the wonderfully named Wendolene Ramsbottom. ‘50 Years of Clay’ is the title given to Aardman’s anniversary celebrations, reminding us of the very earthy stuff from which these characters are crafted.

In the beginning Aardman’s base was a garden shed (or so I understand) - a tiny workshop out of which an animated world emerged. The ‘garden shed’ vibe is still seen as integral to Aardman’s work; with the hands on, DIY spirit at the heart of the continued creative enterprise. So, if my source is correct, I also gather that in the much larger and better resourced ‘workshop’ now occupied by Aardman, they have constructed a whole series of sheds and similar homespun work stations.; in order to remain authentic to their founding ethos.

A book exploring the original Aramaic of the Lord’s Prayer - Prayers of the Cosmos - suggests that God creates a space within us and amongst us that is akin to a ‘workshop’ within which we might ‘envision and prepare for new creation.’ The work of Aardman, birthed in Bristol, in large measure through the genius of the gentle reluctant star Nick Park, and their ‘garden shed’ style ‘workshops’ might provide us with a very fitting image within which we can imagine ourselves undertaking this ‘work’ of ‘envisioning and preparing for new creation.’ ‘Envisioning’ is to dream, and to dream together; to wonder out loud what the world could look like and what would begin to make the difference.

I rather like the idea that church is a continual community of improvisation - something that we are creating together as we experiment what it might look like to be part of a new creation - a shared space within which all life can flourish in peace and wholeness.

Cotham Parish Church will be 50 in September, and quite soon we’ll be publishing details of how we’ll be celebrating that landmark anniversary; and at the heart will be a sense of thanksgiving for the ways in which we have been creating church over those fifty years, as well as anticipating our continued faithful improvisation.

Meanwhile One Equal Music will be 5 years old this summer; a project created in the ‘workshop’ of shared prayer and story telling, and an improvisation on bringing together the musical and inclusive heart of St Paul’s in new ways.

So, like Aardman, let’s remain in our ‘sheds’ and at our ‘workbenches’ - because it’s ‘there’ that the dream of God’s coming kingdom continues to take shape.

Happy anniversaries!

David