Set Sail

At the Greenbelt Festival in the UK last year there was a fascinating multimedia installation called "Set Sail." It was a simple laptop/projector setup, with a written explanation and then some audio on a cd player which had a 5 minute meditation on journeying into God.

The pictures below are from a service at grace in London on 12th January 2007 (full text available here). St. Brendan and his monks sailed to Newfoundland in a leather currach in the 5th century.

Making marks in the sand, as a sign of commitment to travel - as St. Brendan prayed, "Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach, a record of my final prayer in my native land?"

Deep inside you hear a call – “SET SAIL”, a secret voice heard only in your heart “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN”...a stirring on the edge of the wind “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN, STEP OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR WORLD”… an echo of stones dragged along the beach by the tide “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN, STEP OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR WORLD, COME WITH ME INTO MINE”

Like St Peter stepping tentatively out of the boat onto the waves… you step from the planking of the jetty into the boat… it flexes beneath your feet… was it the water or the leather?  Either way it does not feel secure.  Like St Brendan and a hundred other Pioneers and Missionaries you SET SAIL.

What does it feel like to truly abandon the shore?  To leave behind Models and Strategies… to ignore Maps and Guides… to cut oneself adrift from techniques and practices… to place yourself beyond the horizon… no turning back… no clutching to tried and tested solutions or the words of an expert… to put yourself solely in the hands of God… to SET SAIL.

The text is from the St Brendan Meditation. We're hoping to set this up as a permanent install in the coffee shop during Change Agents, probably not quite as elaborate as above, since this won't be the focal point for a specific service, but as an installation to which people may go - and return - during the course of the weekend.