a letter to a friend

For my Reading Cultures class, I had to write a letter to a friend, telling them what I learned about a project we worked on. Here is an editted version.

Dear Friend,

I thought I’d write and tell you about a case study project I did for my Reading Cultures class this semester. (One of the many reasons you haven’t heard much from me over the last few months).

As part of our assessment for the class, we had to work in a group on a case study project. The groups were formed around the projects chosen. I chose to do a Spirit Walk, and ended up in a group of three women. 

We met briefly during lecture breaks, then added a lots of evening meetings (at a café or in the common space at College) to work on our project. I think we ended up having five of those evening meetings (at least 10 hours – or closer to 15!)

Working with these two ladies, sharing our ideas, learning together and sharing our lives together was a wonderful experience. I now have two new lovely friends.  

We were asked to choose five ‘sacred’ sites in the city and to prepare a resource, guiding ‘pilgrims’ around those sites. We were then to prepare a presentation that we were to make to the rest of the class at the end of the semester. We were to pretend that the class was a Church Council and that they had asked us (as ‘reading cultures experts’) to present a 30 minute report on their community and the implications of the life and ministry of their church going forward. We needed to include a primary ministry metaphor, reasons for choosing the sites, their significance and resources that we would give pilgrims at each site they visit.

As we worked together, we found that we generated more and more ideas. We decided quite early that the John 4 passage of the Woman at the Well was going to be important. But the more time we spent together, the more creative we got! As time went by, nervousness set in as we realised that we needed to make clear decisions about our Walk, the metaphor, and how we were going to present it to the ‘Church Council’. 

In the end, we were really proud of our presentation:

·       In our half hour we introduced the Church Council to our Walk and why were taking them through it. The Walk was to be a discernment tool for them, where they were to walk through the city, hearing stories of 5 sacred sites, and looking at the sites with new eyes, with the hope that the Holy Spirit would reveal something new to them through this process.

·       We then told them the John 4 story. The re-telling of the story was really special. We were captivated by the story teller (one of the ladies in our group). We then went on to introduce our ministry metaphor of the Well. (A public meeting place / A place of engagement / the living water / Jesus is the source of living water / the sense of ownership and history about the well (Jacob’s well). We asked: How can your faith community be a Well to the people of this community?

·       We gave an overview of the Walk itself and a very brief summary of which sites we had chosen and why and led in a prayer.

·       We then sang them a song! We had found a song that said everything we had hoped to say through our walk: You were in this place by Robin Mann.

·       We then handed out guidebooks that we had prepared. The books included the song we had sung, a map and information with photos about each of the five sites, with reflection questions, and lots of room for them to journal anything that the Holy Spirit may say to them as they go.

·       We gave the ‘church council’ some time to read through their guidebooks, imagining what it would be like to do this walk.

·       Finally, we talked about what we would do as they returned from their Walk, and how we would encourage them to meet with us again two weeks later, giving time for them to reflect and discern.

·       We closed with a reading from Revelations, relating back to the metaphor.

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let those who hear say, ‘Come!’ Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17 TNIV)

Our presentation went really well. I think we achieved all that we had set out to achieve. We were really conscious that our presentation was very different in style to all the other groups, so we were quite nervous.

Through this case study I learned so much: about working with others, about the creative process (and how it can’t be rushed), about our city, about the use of metaphor for discernment, about some of the Kaurna history of our city, and about what sacred spaces can teach us about the culture and values of a community. 

Perhaps one day soon on one of these fabulous Adelaide sunny winter days we could do the Walk together? I have kept the guide book and think it would be a wonderful thing to do.

Love,

Linda