50 Tiny Things - A Quiet Communion at Greenbelt

Alex and Jo Clare-Young, and Sarah Hobbs, leading the Quiet Communion service at Greenbelt on Sunday 27th August 2023. In front of the stage are two British Sign Language interpreters.

THIS YEAR Greenbelt, an inclusive, affirming Christian festival of artistry, activism and belief, celebrated 50 years.

Last Sunday morning, Jo Clare-Young, and OTN Co-Chairs Alex Clare-Young and Sarah Hobbs, led a Quiet Communion service as an alternative to the main celebration on the main stage. They co-created a safer space that was compassionate, multi-sensory, and embracing of neurodiversity.

During the service, Alex led chants they had written and accompanied them on the harp.

Here is an extract of the service they hosted:

Once upon a time, quite a long time ago, Julian of Norwich gazed on a little thing in her hand and wrote:

‘In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.’

Inspired by the writing of Julian of Norwich, everyone was given ‘a small thing like a hazelnut’ to contemplate during the service.

The communion table was laid with 50 different vessels, one for each year of Greenbelt, filled with alcohol-free grape juice. Gluten-free oat cakes were also shared among around 350 people who were present.

Small things matter.

Once upon a time, 50 years ago, Greenbelt was founded by a bunch of misfits in a field. We’re still in a field, and the festival has grown and grown. Greenbelt is still somewhere that welcomes anyone and everyone. Greenbelt is a place where small things matter, and so we invite you to join us in giving thanks for small things.

Small things make a big difference, and sometimes it’s the small things that, added together, make the big thing that changes the other thing, and makes the massive difference.

And so we gather, knowing first that God shapes us. second that God loves us. And the third, that God keeps us…

Prayer of thanks

For the small things, we give thanks
Drops of water
Grains of sand

Seeds sprouting
Fleeting thoughts
Glimmers of light

Blades of grass
Smells of flowers
Moments of calm

Sounds of a laugh
A touch from a friend
A really very small slice of cake

For the little things that are glimpses of hope and truth and grace we give thanks,
For the small things that make the bigger things we give thanks
For each of the teeny tiny things that you have made - we give thanks

Amen

Letting go

What you asked of us, God, could be described in small words. To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you.

And yet.. sometimes we made the words anything but small, we added syllables to the small words, footnotes to the simple ideas, and great big legalistic sticky murky clauses to the rule of love.

We took took the words love one another, and added endless provisos…
love one another… unless
love one another… except
love one another… if

We are sorry for when the small things you asked of us, got hidden by the big things we thought we should add… when we forgot that you know us. You love us. And you keep us.

We are sorry that we sometimes try and make it tidy and neat and controlled by rules, when you are also a god of dancing, of wild growth, and of adaption.

We give thanks that, small as we are, you see us, know us, love us and free us. Make us tiny seeds that grow into a wild rebellious garden - a disorganized bunch of disciples that are rooted in the small and simple things you ask of us. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with you.

Reading: The Seed

Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’ - Matthew 13:31-32

Reflection by Alex

The small things often make all of the difference. Small things really matter to me. For me, personally, being autistic and ADD means that I can’t quite hold on to the bigger things, the grand plan, the supposedly sorted system, they slip through my loose grasp; I risk shattering and scattering.

Grains of sand, drops of water, fragments of faith, tiny seeds… hazelnuts and things that are the same size as them… small things matter.

The straw that broke the camels back, the words that actually did hurt, the daily microaggressions, the sharp looks, the harsh actions, the turning of a back on someone who needs help… small traumas matter.

And small things can rebel and restore too. The mustard seed is both poison and poultice, weed and word, rebellion and restoration, menace and medicine. It’s not an accident that the seed in the parable is a mustard seed. Only a lonely rebel seeking to make a massive difference through a tiny act from under the control of an occupying force would plant a mustard seed in the midst of occupied territory.

I wonder what tiny things make the difference for you…

I wonder what small traumas you bring with you…

I wonder what small words and actions might be a part of your rebellion and restoration…

The point is, sometimes the tiny things are massive.

’The ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness for the space they take and so, neither shall I.’ - Becca Lee

Prayer

God of all things, big and small, we come to pray for our world

We might feel small,, inspire us to do what we can, with what we have, where we are… and if that isn’t enough, to be the seeds that grow a wild rebellious garden from the tiny seeds of hope.

We might feel small, too small to confront unjust structures or challenge systems
We might feel small, too small to nourish a community, or heal its rifts
We might feel small, too small to save the planet, or silence the guns

But… When we sow a small seed may we also sow the wild rebellious garden

As we look at the small things of the world we know that all things have their beginning in God’s love. And so we pray that beginning with your love you might inspire us to make small differences. Take our small rebellions, our small acts of peace, our small moments of love, our tiny acts of gentleness, our whispers of reconciliation - take them and plant them in your grace so that they might grow to be mighty acts, acts that contribute to changing the world.

Guide our tiny drops of mercy and justice so that they flow together, into a river. May we, small as we are, through our small prayers, be part of your world-changing plan.

Blessing

May God, who makes, who loves, and who keeps - combine us, small as we are, into a giant wind of change.
May we, little by little, chip away at injustice, may we, in teeny tiny ways change the whole world with love.
May we know in our hearts - first that God knows us - second that God loves us - and the third, that God keeps us.

Read the full liturgy here.