OK, it already happened, but here was Hush…
In the aftermath of Christmas and the New Year celebrations, join us by an open fire for a quiet evening of song and storytelling delving into the themes of darkness and light in the pursuit of love, meaning and human connection.
Featuring fairytales and music from Pete Rollins, Ursula Burns, Padraig O Tuama, Shirley McMillan, Peter Wilson, Stephen Caswell, Rachel Austin, and more…
Brought to you by the ikon collective.
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Ikon took to the streets to be evangelised as part of Culture Night Belfast on 23rd September. The Evangelism Project has previously brought us to various religious groups for enriching encounters (for example, to a Free Presbyterian church for a conversation with Ian Paisley, a local Hindu temple, and a new Scientology group in the city). But we have always intended to hear what the not-so-general public had to say. Thanks to everyone who took part – it was great! (At some point we may use the postcards etc as part of an exhibition.)
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In the run-up to Greenbelt, we asked our twitter followers to write their ‘story of god’ in one tweet (140 characters). We showed them all on screen at the start of our event, and gave out printed versions as gifts as people left. Several people have asked that we reproduce them, so here they are! Thanks to everyone who contributed. They were a beautiful gift to ikon as well as to all those who attended our event. (Sorry if we’ve missed any!) If you want to write your own, please do (and tag us with @ikonbelfast)
@bdk1521
That breathtaking glimpse of beauty when you don’t have your camera – the hawk, the thunderstorm, the leaping orca – that’s God. #ikonstory
@erikchrist1973
B4 time, Gd creatd all & clld it gd. When sin & sffring enterd the wrld, Gd sided w/ the poor, sick & despised, brngng life 4all #ikonstory
@Sarcasticluther
Flesh seems a strange choice of garment for God yet flesh taken and torn then raised and taken again, blessed, broken and given. #ikonstory
@bdk1521
I can’t show you God. I can only point out God’s handiwork after the fact, on those rare occasions when I can discern it myself. #ikonstory
@ellenloudon
in an upside down world God taught me how to stand on my hands. #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
I used to hold on tight to belief, but I dropped it when I realised my hands were too full to help #ikonstory
@_bindert_
how did you find me here?? #ikonstory
@tomalprice
my story of you is one of you unsettling my story of you #ikonstory
@willowwistful
“the God in whom the 19th and 20th centuries came to disbelieve was only invented in the seventeenth century” Alasdair Macintyre #ikonstory
@bdk1521
The inspired act of kindness that transforms hostile strangers into human beings in conversation – that’s God. #smallcupcake #ikonstory
@PaulMTilley
#ikonstory life from death
@Reggie_C_King
#ikonstory I don’t believe in G-d, but I believe that this was his decision and that he can reverse it at any time.
@Kenny_WJ
No matter how hard, I hide, Still I’m found, Wanting. #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
Me with God, then me without God, then all of us as divine #ikonstory
@carmzmurphy
knowing god used to be about what i knew and how i made that known. these days it’s more about learning how to love and be loved #ikonstory
@rachelaustinNI
gave my all, left with nothing. now i embrace the void… and it embraces me. #ikonstory
@Beddard731
In forsaking heaven to embrace earth we found that the kingdom had been here all along #ikonstory
@manofthemoors
“i am”, despite me, he’s been forming me into me, so the me i am is the me the world needs & the me i will be is the me he sees. #ikonstory
@duanalla
In 1991,in a circus tent,I opened a door to let the knocking Jesus in.I said ‘You’ll make me uncool.’ ‘Alright then, come in’.#ikonstory
@emjric
My faith took me to uni to study theology. I got sick. So I came home. And that’s when I really had to become a theologian. #ikonstory
@shenning
Unreal, yet strangely alive. Absent, but delightfully so. Disturbingly compassionate and annoyingly grace-filled #ikonstory
@dubh_music
Evangelical zeal~ wilderness wonderings~ knowing I’m probably wrong~ but I’m still here, and so it seems, is god. #ikonstory
@mistertumnus
‘There’s a science fiction in the space between you and me/A fabrication of a grand scheme where I am the scary monster’ #ikonstory
@p2son
My story of God — ^^::^^ —————————¿———-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~___________ ¡ -___= #ikonstory
@johnny_parks
I said: “maybe” then “yes” then “maybe” then “no” Thank god I said “no”. Relieved. #ikonstory
@lardball
Just came on to twitter to check out #ikonstory. Decided I don’t have one. I hope this doesn’t count.
@SarahRosemary
I first looked for god on Sunday mornings, evenings, and Wednesday nights. Finally I’m learning to look in people. #ikonstory
@AideenJ
Thought I was too cool for “that Christian rock shite”. Apparently not. #ikonstory
@Gefail
I thought god was dead but she would not lie down #ikonstory
@yvesraven
doubt; divine, but human; discipline, but love; challenge, but grace; outside time & space, but right here right now #ikonstory
@Andrew_Parle
#ikonstory saved from being, doing, attending! Now I just love following; listening, talking, learning & living!
@soulandculture
after a long battle with legalism and certainty, grace found me #ikonstory
@LowlyKnights
Love is impossible. Hope is impossible. Miracle! Miracle! #ikonstory #lyrics
@AdamTurks
I’m not sure if I would’ve made it to 21 if I hadn’t believed in you… but I am sure I would’ve had loads more sex and drugs #ikonstory
@mistertumnus
The best thing is that truth and love can coexist. Never let the facts get in the way of a God story. #ikonstory
@keiferi
he was lord -a bit scary- then he disappeared but returned as dad -accepted- if he didn’t move it must have been me #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
I dedicated my life to god until he told me the best dedication was to leave him and be with others. And there he was. #ikonstory
@jkubbeaver
saved from being “saved”. Grew up southern baptist and then grew up. #ikonstory
@_bindert_
is it you again? #ikonstory
@Beddard731
grew up in a belief system. encountered God. thought he was destroying it. later learned he was transforming it to beautiful #ikonstory
@PeterRollins
17in the Garden:Lost everything4God 27at the Cross:Lost everything including God 37at the tomb:Find God in another #ikonstory
@ellenloudon
i try everyday to tell the story of your love for me – my broken heart is slowly mending and I hope for peace #ikonstory
@__elder__
“We are trees in a story about a forest. But the story of the forest is better than the story of the tree.” #ikonstory
@brycmay
As a teen, I had to cleanse my sin. 2 Baptisms, 35 yrs later, Mens Retreat 07: Step into who you are my son, I’ve been waiting. #ikonstory
@this1littlebird
At 8, laying among daffodils staring at sky I answered Yes. Not much I’ve thought in 30yrs since has made for better theology. #ikonstory
@James__Lock
Was shown God who suffered who offers us resurrection, hope of brighter day even in the darkest and want to help his kingdom come #ikonstory
@Persecuted23
#ikonstory in the midst of absence of experience, experienced the absence. From neo-atheist to believer, because the absence had to be God
@perrodin
ever present image. image destroyed. {re}drawn in paradox & mystery. left a haunted spectre drawing me towards I know not what. #ikonstory
@swancommarachel
I met Him in a closet, hiding from demons & boogiemen. He whispered “you will be ok. I love you.” I said “you sound like a girl.” #ikonstory
@_bindert_
always bigger than i think #ikonstory
@JonnyFraz
I’m sure I saw Jesus standing outside church last week with a sign picketing….he uses such foul language! #ikonstory
@danieljfbrown
I asked god to take his things and leave, but from time to time I hear rustling from the
under the stairs. Hope it’s him #ikonstory
@__elder__
Sold it as a child, bought it with my pocket money. Worked fine til I needed it. Then I realised, God bleeds with us #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
God was born in me & grew inside.I loved him til I realised we were feeding off each other.Took meds,killed him.Both finally free #ikonstory
@jenn_durrett
Book in hand, seed planted – lead, asked, burned, wondered, left, stumbled, tumbled – landed a dazed and confused heap in the fog.#ikonstory
@GraceERead
immense fear/immense peace, immense fear/immense peace, ultimate safety, divine hope #ikonstory
@Volsicle
Examining, questioning, fighting, disavowing and disowning, emptying of self has brought me understanding. #ikonstory
@jb00m
Pushed to uncertainty, the way has been cleared; the answer/the question: What do I love when I love my God? #ikonstory
@LisaIngram52
Bible-beaten til 17 then Wiccan til now,looking for my God I know hes there but of love not hate.I have to find him #ikonstory
@jenn_durrett
I asked, I answered, God didn’t contradict me. I forgot how to listen and now bitterness obscures my location. #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
Somehow I knew we were lost, and we would always be off by several degrees. “Goodbye, Belief, but Love will show me the way now” #ikonstory
@joncollins
ignored / denied / accepted // imminent (but running late) / absent (and missed) // god is nowhere but here / right here #ikonstory
@MoltenMed
Malcontented misdirected mislaid and mistaken, what is lost may be found, what is unknowable may not matter, i’m alive, live #ikonstory
@Pjh149
Born again at 13,Charismatic at 15, backslider at 17,,house grp ldr, emergent chrch ldr in 30′s Agnostic at 41.my god is dead? #ikonstory
@RWileECoyote
making me into the best me that i can be #ikonstory
@willowwistful
I used to think the cross bought us life, but now I think the incarnation is the melody & we, you, I sing life.#ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
“I’m holding you back” says he.“But I won’t leave you behind!” says me. He insisted and I left God for dead at the side of the road #ikonstory
@alphabetacazi
I found beautiful architect plans that seemed to fit the world. But I had to make some changes when it drew a line between u & me #ikonstory
@HamHamParty
I found the church and lost myself. I found myself and lost the church. Now I’m finding God, in whom everything is lost and found.#ikonstory
@duanalla
Your people taught me that that pride was a sin, but then, when I learnt to listen, I learnt that pride is a way of survival. #ikonstory
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The photos from Greenbelt. Many thanks to Ben for taking these. Click on the image to enlarge. Special kudos to Jayne for the amazing costumes which we are hoping to exhibit at some stage in Belfast.
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Pádraig’s poem from the Ikon event at Greenbelt:
I used to need to know
the end of every story
but these days I only
need the start to get me going.
God is the crack
where the story begins
We are the crack
where the story gets interesting
We are the choice of
where to begin
the person going out?
the stranger coming in?
God is the fracture
and the craic in your voice
God is the story
flavoured with choice
God is the pillar of salt
full of pity
accusing God
for the sulphorous city.
God is the woman who bleeds
and who touches
We are the story
of courage or blushes.
God is the story
of whatever works
God is the twist at the end
and the quirks
We are the start
and we are the centre
we’re the characters
narrators, inventors.
God is the bit
that we can’t explain
maybe the healing
maybe the pain.
We are the bit
that God can’t explain
maybe the harmony
maybe the strain.
God is the plot
and we are the writers
the story of winners
and the story of fighters
the story of love
and the story of rupture
the story of stories
the story without structure.
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This is the ritual that everyone followed at our event at Greenbelt this year:
Our ritual will be conducted mostly in silence.
Let us share some silence.
Let us stand up, in silence.
In silence, turn to look at somebody you don’t know. This is not a joke. Hold their gaze.
Like in a library of stories, be silent.
Hold the person’s gaze look at them. Take a silent step toward then. Imagine their name. Hold their gaze.
Hold their gaze. Imagine their story. Hold their gaze. In silence take another step.
In silence, reach out and take their hand. Hold their gaze. Imagine their name. Imagine their story.
Hold their hand. Hold their gaze. Hold the tension.
Quietly, lean forward and whisper your name to them.
Now let us all, together, whisper our own names. Keep whispering. Keep whispering. Whisper your name, which is part of your story. Let us fill the space with whispering. Over and over.
Shhhhh.
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