Reignite

As we mark the third anniversary of the COVID lockdown, it seems like a good time to do some reflection on the last three years, and this season of pandemic. As we all know this was like nothing else any of us had ever experienced, but I just want to reflect more locally on Riverside, and draw your attention to the audio archive Doorstep Revolution, a project I was part of putting together as part of Gentle/Radical.  In the first episode we hear about those initial reactions to what was going on in March 2020. I think it is easy to forget how scary it all was at the time. When I listen back to these stories I remember that sense of fear, and just a sense of not knowing what was going on. It was difficult to know how serious it was, how scared you should be. I know I had the Black Death in my mind, when a third... a half?... of Europe's population died. We didn't know it was that, but we also didn't know it wasn't that. We just didn't know how bad it was. A lot of ou

Once a month I run Contemplative Prayer and Chanting, on the second Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm, on zoom. This is a time of chanting and guided contemplative prayer to open the heart to Love. This practice is rooted in the conviction that there is a universal, unconditional source of love within each person and that it is possible to have a personal encounter with this source. The source has many names, but we often name them as “God”.  To get the invite please email s_lingwood@hotmail.com Facebook event page

Join us at all every Saturday during March 2023 for an hour of silence as an Earth Vigil for climate justice.  We hold silence:  • As an act of grief for the climate and ecological catastrophe unfolding, particularly affecting people in the Global South.  • As an act of protest to demand the UK Government acts with urgency to reach net zero carbon as fast and justly as possible, ensuring energy is affordable for ordinary people in the UK while also providing reparations to the Global South for the loss and damage they are already suffering because of climate change.  • As an act of prayer and meditation to bring our deepest spiritual commitments and practices to this work.  People of all faiths and none are welcome to join us. If you can, bring a chair. When:  11am to noon Saturday 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th March 2023. Where: Next to the Betty Campbell statue, outside the UK Government Building, Ty William Morgan, Wood Street, Cardiff City Centre, CF101EP

Radical Christianity is about encountering the God of love . It is first and foremost rooted in the discovery of a universal and unconditional source of love at the heart of reality and within each person. God is the name we give to this source of love. It is possible to have a direct and real personal encounter with this God through spiritual practice. We encounter God, and are nourished by God, through the regular practice of prayer, or contemplation.  Radical Christianity is about following a man called Jesus . It is rooted in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet living under occupation of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. It understands that's Jesus' message was the message of liberation. His message was that when we truly encounter God, and let God's love flow through us, we begin to be liberated from the powers of empire and violence and encounter the  "realm of God" - an alternative spiritual and social reality rooted in love rather th

 For the service on 19th February 2023

This is a long (long!) delayed article laying out the principles of my work. As I wrote last time I've decided to write down the principles of the work that I do in Cardiff. These are not necessarily in order of importance but simply the order that they have occurred to me. The work, that I feel called by God to do in Cardiff, is a kind of pioneer ministry, community ministry, spirit-led activism. It works by a number of practices and principles that I have developed, borrowed from others, learnt from books, or made up as I've gone along! These principles might change as I am always learning and adapting, but these are my foundations right now. Almost a year ago I wrote that the first principle of my work is the hyper-local . And now, appropriately enough, I want to say that the second principle of my work is slowness. "Slowness" may not totally capture the principle though. A better word might be "organic". This principle is based on the insight that human-