Dancing Scarecrows

In this ever expanding virtual universe I'm often fascinated as to the reallife stories behind the titles chosen for a blog or website:

But there are no prizes for the thinking behind Dancing Scarecrow ... not from me anyway ... and that's because the good people behind it will tell you all about it on their new (in fact so new it is still under construction) website www.dancingscarecrow.org.uk/ The title comes from that wonderful Brian Wren hymn that contains the lines.

Here hangs a man discarded
A scarecrow hoisted high,
A nonsense pointing nowhere
To all who hurry by

Can such a clown of sorrows
Still bring a useful word
Where faith and love seem phantoms
And every hope absurd?

They also have a blog just started http://dancingscarecrow.blogspot.com/that looks like it will be most helpful to the growing number of people who want their worship to consciously connect with real life and not just offer an escape from it. (Yes I know we all need a spot of sanctuary now and then but that's not the only reason why Christians gather and certainly not why we are then scattered back 'into the world' again.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it rather well when he said 'there is but one reality and that is Jesus Christ and in him humanity is offered the possibility of partaking in the reality of God and the reality of the world at the same time, but not in the one without the other.’

So if you are looking for prayers and other pieces of liturgy that can help you and your church enter more deeply into this reality of Christ then its well worth keeping an eye on what Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood are gathering together in Manchester and scattering out as blessings to us all.