Sunday the 26th of October
Our contemporary service on the 26th of October will have the theme of “Longing for Home”
Do you have a song which reminds you of the feeling of “home”? We invited people on this site, several WhatsApp groups, and by e-mail to contribute. This page has the playlist and a suggestion about how you can use it to practice #SensingSpirituality in your own space and time. If you scroll down there is also a description of what we have planned for the evening in St Johns.
The Playlist
These links have been sent in by people because they remind them of “feeling at home” What ones could you add?
This is my “Go To” in this context. Obviously written to a girlfriend, but I find it works well applied to God.
David
Anything by Robert Shields/ONR/Finding Albert. (The voice of a generation from Dumfries)
Michael
He also suggested, Calvin Harris – Merrymaking at my place (which reminded me of one of the ways in which Glasgow will always be home to me! – Simon)
A song from the movie Bangalore Days. Cause I’m from Bangalore. And the movie is about friendship xx My favourite kind of relationship, The song is in a different language to the state I come from, but that’s the beauty of India
Aparna
Realised it was a very direct message of going home. But I picked it because some of the best times at my parents are mid morning making brunch, and Van Morrison is a usual soundtrack to those moments.
Emily
This song is by an Algerian-French singer, and it’s almost a hymn for people who have left their homeland for another place — capturing all the nostalgia and complexity that immigration entails.
Loubna
Whilst the lyrics are explicitly about someone coming home to the place they belong, feeling called home, and all the things they love about the place, I think the thing I love most is how the melody and the vocals communicate such a sense of longing and aching to be once again immersed in his place of belonging
Rebecca
Here is a playlist of songs – context may follow! In the meantime enjoy and think of home.
Hanna
A long time ago I heard this used in a service of reconcillation. It is all about seeking forgiveness and going home
Mark
This song reminds me of home, my heavenly home, listening and singing those words, remind me of the commitment I made to Jesus all those years ago, when I asked Him to come and be Lord of my life. – thank goodness they don’t sing songs like this anymore!
Marion
This song takes me back to my roots. It really struck me to hear my language in the middle of the song.
Kay
My home is walking. The “Great Western Road” is where most of who I am was formed. It is a home which is gone and a future I don’t yet know. But there is a Way and I am at home walking on it, finding a path.
Simon
https://open.spotify.com/track/3sZpMzSqILR5iIZRrOsSF4?si=Sbum-NIBSomYdWH79wMiWQ
It could be “Caledonia“, or anything by “The Weavers Hand”. Life was simpler then. Amazing turkey stew after playing gigs.
Kate
Longing for home – activity
Get a piece of paper and a pen ready.
Listen to soundtrack, skip songs that totally jar! (But perhaps not all of them, sometimes things which jar are worth reflecting on)
Write four headings Home, Heaven, Church, Community. (or similar that are appropriate for your path).
As you are listening, note down words that come to mind under the various headings. When you have got a good crop of these cut up the lists into individual words and shoogle them together.
Mix the ingredients for some word soup!
Then on two sheets of paper write the headings of “longing” and “memory”
Go through your collection of words and place them where you feel they belong.
(Use fancy colours of paper, good pens or paint – or stick with a simple biro. What ever works for you)
To take it further you could use this collection of words (and others) to write your own version of psalm 84
It starts …
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young …and continues
Psalm 84 Bible gateway
In St Johns on the 26th
Simon is leading the service, and here is his description of the plan:
In the canon of stories handed down that shape the Christian tradition, human being begins with a conversation with God. We are at home with God, but also separated. God is with us, but also our experience is that everything is not there yet.
We will gather and read psalm 84
Then we sing together and read a story Jesus told of two people who went to the temple to pray. The story is told to make a contrast obvious! It is clear who we should imitate, but how? And if the Pharisee is living the ideal life of a holy man, how do we know we are not doing the same, stuck in our echo chamber and at best managing some virtue signalling with our facebook posts.
When I reflected on it I was drawn towards the theme of “longing for home”. The pharisee is quite at home in the temple, in his life, and in addition to this has no empathy with others. The tax collector quite possibly also has a life envied by many. Perhaps like Zacchaeus he is a successful wealthy man with his finger on the political pulse (I’m guessing). The tax collector does not feel at home in the temple. We can only guess at the lifestyles of both, but like the writer of psalm 84 one is clearly longing for a home in heaven and is uncomfortable where they are. If we share only a small fraction of this impulse, perhaps that will inspire us to break through the walls of any echo chambers. Confident in a welcome, home in heaven, we will empathise with those who also seek even when their lifestyles make us uncomfortable. We will moderate our behaviour to transform our lives and behaviour.
We will listen to the tunes about home, with everyone having the chance to introduce their choice. Once everyone has done this we will chat about feelings of home.
As a prayer response we will continue the conversation with God. The church building is a bit like a community diary recording our ancestors conversation. Some of the “handwriting” is difficult to read! Some meanings are lost, but God is with us and the Holy Spirit will remind us of what we need to know. While some music plays people will be encouraged to sense a place that they are attracted to, but a little challenged by. Prayerfully, we can spend some time there and light a candle. Chatting to God like we would a friend, pausing to listen, sense, wait in anticipation.
(This can be repeated to explore more spaces, and candles could be carried to represent carrying someone to a particular place.)
We will then gather together and sing with each other. With the building lights lowered we will be able to see niches in the building lit by the small light we leave there.
The conversation can continue over a drink and refreshments, and mingle the sacred with the everyday to make life ‘taste’ better.
This theme and the readings were sourced from the Scottish Episcopal Church lectionary. For those that don’t know of it, it’s an ordered plan of worship and readings that maps onto seasonal changes throughout each day and the whole year.
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