One of the exciting things about our modern world is that we can reach beyond York to those of you who access our content across the globe.
This morning we welcomed Rob Hornby, who in 2018 on a roof-top in New York, discovered Q online and has since become a friend. Jenny welcomes Rob as he brings a timely message for our season of transition.
In the movie, Interstellar, Earth is deteriorating and is no longer able to support life. In this clip, we find the central character, Cooper, leaving his family behind to find a new world.
Rob introduces himself and explores how he, we and many others have had to leave the place we've called home and begin a new journey.
"Sometimes you have to leave the place that you've called home because it doesn't support life."
"QChurch is not at the beginning of the end, but at the end of the beginning."
As we leave behind the place we called home and continue our quest to find what's next, Rob shares how it's important not to try to recreate the past, but to keep moving forwards and let a new story unfold.
"Any movement must either advance or decay. There is no standing still. The effort to repeat the past while holding the present at bay leads to decadence. The vitality and zest that were of the essence of the worth of the past are lost. What remain are only dying forms." Cobb & Griffin, 1976
When Cooper and his fellow astronauts find themselves in unchartered territory, they have to improvise, be creative and take a step of faith into the unknown.
Hallways, corridors and lobbies are all examples of Liminal Spaces. A liminal space is the transition between what was and what is next. Rob shares some important things to consider in these liminal spaces of life.
"In these liminal spaces, it's doubt as much as assured faith that pulls you through it."
These two clips from Interstellar offer contrasting visions for what our next season at Q could look like.
"Next is not our old home without the bad bits..."
Rob explains how the first clip shows a reality in which a museum has been made of Cooper's old house, where history has been preserved but without the life that once made it what it was. Rob suggests that the second clip is a more enticing vision of our next season: an unchartered world, with unrealised potential, authentic, vast and at times bleak, but with air to breathe.
"Reconstruction of faith doesn't happen automatically. As we name the old paradigms that aren't working for us anymore, we also need to be able to clearly identify and test new paradigms." Sternke, 2002
Rob reminds us how easy it is to fall into dogma, even the dogma of "No dogma!"
In this slide he sets out an alternative. new paradigm:
We are in a liminal space as a community and together we'll continue our quest through this season to find whatever is next.
If you've enjoyed this blog then we'd love to hear from you. You can drop us an email to info@qyork.co.uk.
To experience more content from Q, head to the BLOG or MEDIA PAGE!
If you'd like to support all we do as Q then you can make a donation here. Thanks!