Workshop at De Schuilplaats, Ede

A few weeks ago, on Sunday 23 September, I gave a workshop during the ‘Festivalkerk’ (Festival Church), an alternative church service that regularly features in the programme of the congregation De Schuilplaats in Ede.

During previous workshops that I was able to give at other editions of the Festivalkerk, we often went into the woods and looked at the growth forms of trees. Especially the outside: the trunk, the bark and the branching. That day the weather was unfortunately not very good and we stayed indoors. An opportunity to go deeper together and to be inspired.

I had brought along various slices, sawn-through pieces of wood. They showed remarkable patterns that we marvelled at. The question I put to the group was: “If we compared ourselves to a tree and after many years were sawn through, which patterns and structures would we want someone else to see?” In other words: what do you want to develop in your life, and what do you want to leave behind? This prompted a variety of drawn responses.

An encouragement to direct our hope, our so-called ‘branches’, towards light and air.