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    Occupying Faith: Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection and Study
    Occupying Faith: Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection and Study
    Occupying Faith: Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection and Study
    Ebook158 pages2 hours

    Occupying Faith: Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection and Study

    By Kevin Snyman

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    About this ebook

    the occupy movement continues to pose significant challenges to unjust economic and political systems throughout the world; the movement has shone light on domination systems of all kinds, including religious ones; many people of faith understand just how difficult it is to see through the illusions and subtleties of the system; when we try to challenge it, it pops up hydra-like elsewhere, or more disturbingly, in our very midst: the implications are clear - at its heart, the massive problems we face in the world are spiritual; thus if we choose to respond to the challenges of the modern day prophetic movement of occupy, we are invited to do so in an ecology of ways: though prayer, meditation, liturgy, stories, art, reflection and theological debate; this book offers people a few resources to enable a response to domination that leads to right awareness, right thinking, right action, and with God's help, right living.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKevin Snyman
    Release dateFeb 28, 2013
    ISBN9781301932375
    Occupying Faith: Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection and Study
    Author

    Kevin Snyman

    Bore da! Who I am is a question with any number of potentially amusing answers. My current role in life however is as Christian minister and training and development officer in the National Synod of Wales, United Reformed Church, UK. As chaplain to OccupyFaithUK, I thought it might be helpful to collect and collate a few resources, particularly aimed at people of faith, keen to deepen their understanding and praxis of Occupy through prayer, meditation, discussion and debate. Flying in the face of a world fixated on making money, this book comes to you free (at the point of delivery at least!)

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      Book preview

      Occupying Faith - Kevin Snyman

      Occupying Faith

      Resources for Worship, Meditation, Reflection & Study

      *******

      Compiled and Edited

      by Kevin Snyman

      *******

      Smashwords Edition Copyright

      Kevin Snyman 2013

      Twitter @kevinadene

      *******

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this free eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided that the contributors and artists are acknowledged.

      *******

      *******

      Acknowledgements

      Heartfelt thanks to each person whose heart, mind and spirit resonate with the ideals and hopes of the worldwide Occupy Movement. In particular, thanks to all the supporters and pilgrims of OccupyFaithUK. Thanks to the contributors whose kind permissions have made this book possible. The striking artwork that graces these epages is the creation of Elizabeth Gray-King. All rights reserved. Look her up at http://www.elizabethgrayking.com. Any errors and shortcomings in the book are mine alone, but I pray that the heart of God's compassionate revolution will stir your soul to loving action and contemplation.

      *******

      Table of Contents

      Prologue

      Occupying Worship

      Interfaith Pilgrimage: A Sending Out by St Paul's Cathedral

      Hymns by Kim Fabricius

      The Canterbury Campers by Danny Diskin

      Occupying Stories

      Alexander of Stroud's Tales by Alex Murrell

      Occupy’s Challenges by Tanya Paton Dempsey

      God’s Fabulous Farmyard: A Parable for Children by Kevin Snyman

      and watch Pilgrim Filmmakers: A 3-part YouTube Documentary here...

      Part 1

      Part 2

      Part 3

      Occupying Sermons

      El es Nuestra Paz! (Jesus is our Peace!) by Rafael Vallejo

      A Peace Radical's Sermon by Revd Alan Storey

      Sacrificing our Addiction to Money by Kevin Snyman

      City Philanthropy – quids pro quo - An Easter Sermon by Revd William Taylor

      Jesus Saves! (Buddha Recycles) by Rev Nemu

      What is at stake for the church? by Maureen Foxall

      Living with a Guilty Conscience by Canon Alan Amos

      Occupying Theology

      The Church and the Critique of Capitalism by Maureen Foxall

      Occupying Art by Elizabeth Gray-King

      and read Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al Hussaini's Occupy Article here...

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/nov/28/occupy-st-pauls-occupy-london

      *******

      *******

      Prologue

      Christians are not supposed to follow in the footsteps of criminals, said the speaker passionately. He was opposed to a motion being considered by our church. We were trying to declare our support for the Occupy Movement, and a willingness to listen to Occupy's critique. The speaker had no time for those who broke the law, like Occupiers. Had I been, say, Russell Brand, I might have answered swiftly and eloquently. Brand's clowning, quick witted and deepening spirituality serves him well when speaking truth to power. In my mind I astonished all opposition into silence with brilliantly Brandeque banter: Jesus was himself a criminal in the eyes of the law. That means we Christians are constantly following in the footsteps of a criminal if we are faithful to his example.

      Mmmm. Best I leave the witty replies to the experts. As it happened, I simply stood there, mouth gaping, trying to work out whether being a Christian was even vaguely possible without being an Occupier. Jesus was a deeply disliked Occupier himself; with his presumptuous critique of the Temple bankers, his infuriating indifference towards the ruling elite, his scandalous association with the unwashed classes, his dastardly declaration of liberty for the oppressed, his free medical care designed to desist from draining his patients' pension pots, and his unforgivable generosity: free non GM fish and bread for the starving 99%. Anyone shining that sort of light onto the Powers and Principalities must be punished, destroyed, crucified! The cross was the tool of choice in his day; riot police, embedded journalism and austerity measures take centre stage in ours.

      Would it stretch the imagine too far if we were to visualise not only Jesus as an Occupier, but also Krishna, Gautama, Moses, Avalokiteshvara, Theresa and Mohammed? This is what we in OccupyFaithUK try to imagine. At its core the Occupy impulse is to shine light on every Domination System that plays God. Our great religious reformers did precisely that. Occupiers speak truth to oppressive systems in politics, economics, culture and religion. But unlike the great saints and sages, we are not very good at it! You will see this clearly if per happenstance you ever get to see the remake of The Canterbury Tales, a feature length documentary film about OccupyFaithUK's Pilgrimage for Justice. We find that we are most vulnerable to the subtle deceits of the Powers and Principalities when we try to expose and confront them. Aye, there's the rub! How can we, who are ourselves not free of illusion, shine light on illusion? We simply cannot seem to bear the beams of love very long! See how quickly the Occupiers camped in front of St Paul's divided themselves into 'true' Occupiers vs. 'not true' Occupiers. We are a sorry lot! Who will save us from this body of sin, the apostle asks. No: we cannot save ourselves, but we can I suppose worship; for in doing so we declare Ultimate Reality to be Not Self; not my country, not my religion, not my philosophy, not my Occupy Movement and not even my righteous anger in the face of oppression.

      This book is a resource to help us worship God. Worship takes place as we pray and sing and think and debate for God's sake. Worshipping the Living God shines a healing, compassionate light on oppressive Powers and structures. Our light may be a weak, of course. Righteous religious folk and their institutions are far too easily co-opted by the dynamis, archontes and exousia - the Principalities and the Powers of this worldly system. But we do not despair. We ask for faith. We occupy the compromised liturgies, stories, art, sermons, theologies and practices of our faith. In that occupied space we become still for a heartbeat or two. We breathe intentionally. We become present to Presence in this moment. This is to begin to see through the webs of illusion weaved by ignorance, fear and greed. Out of this place of stillness, light begins to shine in the darkness.

      As a person of faith, you may wish to follow in the footsteps of the Holy Criminal Occupier through worship, meditation, study and reflection. I hope this eBook helps you and your clowning, criminal community to do so faithfully and with skilful means. Feel free to use the resources here in a way that enables right thinking, right awareness and right living. The book relies heavily on Christian religious narratives and categories, but I trust more interreligious material will become available, opening us to deep insights that would not otherwise be visible when viewed through the lens of only one faith.

      *******

      *******

      Occupying Worship

      Interfaith Pilgrimage: A Sending Out

      On Saturday 24 November 2012, OccupyFaithUK set out on a mini pilgrimage (see a short film of that event here http://youtu.be/XSSioTpbNXk) from St Paul's Cathedral to Hackney, London. The hierarchy at St Paul's agreed to host a Service of Sending Out: a generous offer in the light of the history of Occupy vs. Cathedral! It was good to occupy a small space within the cathedral. One can see from the content of this service that St Paul's has begun to take very seriously its obligation to listening to the critique of society and church offered by the still stark memory of the presence of Occupy London on its doorstep. Of course, Systems of Domination embed themselves deeply and are often unseen, especially within churches. Much within this service [un]consciously skirts the hard questions, remains unaware of the Powers that still hold the church captive. Nevertheless, the service acknowledges our collective need for mercy, for forgiveness, for guidance and for compassionate light. It confesses the shortcomings of the church on its journey towards the fullness of the coming Kingdom of Love, Suchness, Satori, Christ or Presence. The hope is that you will use and adapt this order of service as you may need given your community's context. For example, Katharine Harrison led the meditation by using the stained glass windows and art in St Paul's to point out oppression, domination, fear, greed and exploitation in the world, especially within the high finance of the City of London, to which St Paul's as an institution seems so obsequiously obligated for its continued existence (it must be said that many of those working for St Paul's find themselves in heartfelt support of the ideals of Occupy - but then such is the irony inherent in all Domination Systems). Back to the original point: you may wish to include or vary this service in whatever way is meaningful and relevant for your context. All rights remain with Church of England. It is used here with permission.

      *******

      Welcome and Bidding by Revd Canon Michael Hampel

      Opening Prayer

      Almighty God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you; so lead us by your Spirit that in this life we may live to your glory and in the life to come enjoy your forever; through Jesus Christ our Lord who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

      Reading Micah 4. 1-4

      In the days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

      This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

      Meditation led by Katharine Harrison

      Prayers led by Nadene Snyman and Father Jon Dal Din

      O God our creator, whose good earth is entrusted to our care and delight and tenderness, we pray: may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

      For all those who are in captivity to debt, whose lives are cramped by fear from which there is no turning except through abundant harvest; may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

      For all who depend on the earth for their daily food and fuel, whose forests are destroyed for the profits of a few; may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

      For all who labour in poverty, who are oppressed by unjust laws, who are banned for speaking the truth, who long for a harvest of justice; may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

      For all who are in captivity to greed and waste and boredom, whose harvest is choked with things they

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