Apocalypse

From Ikon

This was the first ever ikon gathering, and it took place on a bitterly cold December evening in 2001. The theme of the night was to create a warm and low-lit atmosphere in which we could reflect upon the apocalyptic nature of God's incoming and provide an environment for people to invite the apocalyptic event in our own lives.

In order to facilitate the evening we invited Terry Hogg and Steve Stockman along to reflect on the theme while Pete Wilson (Duke Special) and Dave Gibson (DJ) provided the music. The very first words spoken on that December night were 'In the chaos there is a beginning...'

Ritual

As people entered the room on that first evening each table in the bar had a pile of smooth, small stones. Our first ever ritual began by asking people to pick up to stones, then the following reflection was given,

"Most of us know the story about the old woman who went to the temple treasury with two small pennies, the entire sum of her wealth, and placed them into the temple treasury. Jesus himself witnessed this and affirmed the woman’s sacrifice before his disciples. However Kierkegaard once re-imagined the story in the following way.

He asked us to imagine that the evening before the son of this woman, knowing she was almost blind and had little feeling left in her hands, exchanged the two tiny coins for two worthless stones. Then, the next day, the woman actually placed these two worthless stones into the treasury. Kierkegaard then asked whether Jesus would still think that such a worthless sacrifice, given absolutely, would still warrant the respect and joy of Christ. The answer being, one would think, yes.

The two worthless stones that we hold in our hands are a symbol of what we have to give, a symbol of who we are and what we are. This evening is about opening ourselves up to the apocalyptic incoming of God. So what we would ask you to do is take these stones away and reflect upon what we have been exploring tonight. Then we would ask you to symbolically offer these stones up to God, even if we don't believe in God, as a way of demonstrating that we are open to the incoming of God".

Pictures