I think listeth is a great word - especially when applied to the breeze that kept blowing throughout our open air service yesterday afternoon.
It was suitably amusing that just as I announced the song 'Spirit of God, unseen as the wind' the breeze whipped through the place in which we were gathered and caused papers to fly everywhere.
It was a fun afternoon, well attended, and with participants from all three traditions. All told, 53 people took part - or at least 53 people took a cake (as there were 7 left over at the end!) - and they seemed to enter into the spirit of what was being expressed. Most stayed on for a cuppa and a chat and we even had to threaten to put a couple of Anglicans away with their chairs in order to get cleared away on time!
Almost everyone opted to join in with the interactive intercessions, drawing or symbolising their prayers on flames which where then added to the collage of 'fire'. It transpired that a few people don't know which up a flame burns as they used their flames upside down (tip downwards) but the overall impression is pretty good.
The balloons seemed to be well received - though a few of us spent a fair bit of time using balloon pumps to inflate those of older folk without enough puff to do it themselves. Some of the faces drawn on balloons were quite funny - and several took their balloons home to show their grandchildren...
At the end of the service, after the final prayer and blessing we let off our party poppers as the 'Amen' - causing a fair amount of holy hilarity and a few comments about disturbing the neighbours.
One of my folk commenting to me at the end of the service said that when I arrived five and half years ago she wasn't too sure about all this 'new school' stuff that I introduced but that now she thought a return to the old ways would be very boring. I accepted this as a compliment but also pondered whether what we do is really so 'new' - I have retained, and strengthened, the service structure as a movement of gathering - praising - hearing - reflecting- responding which I see as very traditional but have allowed us to try new ways of experiencing and expressing those elements. Overall I reckon that things must be about right since our newest attender - a chap with early stage Alzheimer's who's just moved into a flat over the road - seems happy to join in with the activities and has opted to throw in his lot with us. So wherever God's Pneuma, Ruach listeth, she seems to be touching folk here and enthusing them (theologically and popularly) in some measure.