Monday Night: Rev. Jo James and “What is the spirit saying in the churches?”

Rev. Jo James led a powerful and wide-ranging session, beginning with the creation of a meditative and contemplative space through the use of music (Olivier Messiaen’s ‘Louange a l’immortalite de Jesus’ played by Sue Bourne and Michael Baum, and ‘Last Night’ by Arooj Aftab) and a meditation on the five senses. He challenged us to think about how we define religion – quick question; can you do this without arriving at something that either requires belief in a deity / could be equally well used to describe the feelings of Newcastle United’s fans at St James’ Park on match day? After recounting how his congregation, Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, working together to consider what they valued and arrived at the key value of ‘conversation’, and put this into action by creating a space where different spiritual views can be explored, Jo invited us once more to meditate, this time on the words of Julian of Norwich on the notion of ‘liminality’. He concluded by challenging us to acknowledge our often undiscussed Puritan heritage, and reject its more judgmental nature as we move forwards into the post-pandemic world. A video of the session can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka3UKNSQ6g