Getting to know Flow can be a hard thing, we can experience Flow in our lives from time to time but being in the flow all the time is harder. Remember when you first realised there was more to Flow than you thought, trying time and time again to make things happen but being just beyond your reach. We need one another to help us find Flow, and Flow has designed it this way. Just as Flow is in you so Flow is in others, and as people flow differently, so can we help one another understand Flow. Some people flow when they think about stuff and because they are thinkers, can help us understand flow or help us when we seem to loose Flow. Some have learnt to trust Flow and we can see from them what it is to live like this. There are even some people who have learnt to go with the Flow so Flow can heal people or help people in strange and miraculous ways. Others find flow when they are talking about Flow, and some have learnt the language of Flow. You see Flow longs to connect with people, and although people have different strengths it is Flow that decides who has these strengths and when.

Think about pulling the perfect trick, unless your feet are right, the weight of your body is in the right place, you have the right speed, take off and landing it won’t happen. Although it is one trick it has many parts, and you can’t do the trick without landing or by using your hands where your feet should be. Once we know Flow we can find Flow in everything, not just the moments when we skate or ride, we become joined in the flow of life with everyone and everything else that knows Flow and because of the old ways of thinking about ourselves are no longer valid. The strange thing about this that it is not that you loose yourself but you find yourself and your part in the part. Remember how where we started – thinking about how different people can help others get to know Flow – well it the same again. Everyone is equally important but more than this we can’t actually function without one another, so it is no good saying I am more important or better than you. Imagine a treasure hunt for Flow and you are in a team, you are responsible for one another, you are responsible for helping one another find Flow, you need to help the others find their role so they can help others find Flow. You can’t find the whole treasure of Flow without everyone finding Flow, everyone knowing their part, if one fails we all fail, but when one person finds Flow we flow that little bit more.

Remember you are here to help Flow be discovered on earth, and you are a part in this process, so find out your part to play and play it well. This is the purpose of what some people call church, to help others find Flow and discover how we can all find our part in Flow, and so be at one with each other, ourselves and the whole of creation. So don’t compete, let everyone play their part, people who help get things set up and make things happen, people who Flow can speak through, the thinkers, the miracle workers, the behind the scenes helpers, the admin people, and the people who speak Flows language, remembering that no-one is more important than the other. But it is so easy to forget so I want to tell you about a different way, an even better way than rules, the way of Flow the way of Love.

If I speak really well, or even speak for Flow but don’t show love, it is pointless. If I am a thinker or I know Flows language or see miracles happen, or even give my money to the poor, without love it is nothing and more than that I am nothing, and not really in Flow. Love is kind and patient, love works for others not for itself, love helps you put up with those around you in the Flow that wind you up, and love hopes for a better world and keeps you living towards this, love won’t fail. Love will help Flow be discovered on earth, love will help you find your part in this process, and love will you play your part well. So have faith in Flow, hope for the future and love to make it happen, but of these three the most important is love.

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Charlie a biker who regularly flowed when she rode was quickly developing a reputation as an excellent rider, so in order to make the most of her growing profile decided to set up a shop locally and online brand of clothes and equipment. Her technical skills and growing flow when she rode meant she could design new pedals and peripheral equipment that really enhanced riding and made the whole experience better. She made sure that everyone working for her got a fair wage and only used ethical suppliers. Charlie was quickly raking it in and the money didn’t corrupt her she gave a portion to those who needed it and kept up her ethical stance.
At the same time a man was traveling the around the area, who also had a growing reputation but not as a skater or biker, but as a Sufi – someone who was spiritually enlightened, and at peace with themselves. People who had heard his stories or spent time with him, said he had healed the sick, and helped the poor and although he too was poor was rich in a different way. They said he was in touch with the planet and greater source of power, that he knew God or a higher being, and this was the source of his power. Charlie recognized this as the Flow she experienced when riding, but here was someone who seemed to be with the Flow all the time.
Seeking out the Sufi she went to him, explained how she flowed and how she had lived an ethical life and asked “what must I do to be in Flow like you?”
The Sufi replied “go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor?” Charlie went away disappointed.

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A few thoughts after the skate pilgrimage. Flow as God, has had a powerful effect on the young people. At first Flow was all about their interpretation and worldview of it, however as we journeyed together their view was corrupted (redeemed?) to include God. As the Spirit invaded their frame of reference it has changed their view. Whilst on the one hand they can reject this they will not forget it. A critical questions for us in this generational work is how do we create space and opportunities to maintain contact, grow or stretch to be trans-generational? My initial thought is that Flow is the trans-generational experience (the yp have had an experience / encounter with God) that is more than the story of God (I think this may be really important but not sure yet). The critical issues now would be How do we enable the young people to encounter the rest of the story which tell the whole of life and will enable them to see/experience Flow in the whole of life; both over time terms and in terms of the scope of life?

It is interesting to note that we have started with their experience of God, and used this to frame the story of God. The interpretation of this story in the light of their experience of God is up to them. On one hand this could be seen as little different to youth ministry that centres on sung worship, where young people are drawn into the corporate experience, then get the story. The CRITICAL difference is that we suggested they were already experiencing (at least an inkling) God, (or God was present in the moment of Flow) further more this is a redeeming process of something that is already intrinsic/internal to them, rather than a borrowed non culturally relevant experience, and finally the onus rests with them to explore the experience and make sense of the experience, we will simply tell the stories of Flow and allow them to interpret.

Apologies if this makes little sense to you, but I wanted to get the thought down.Eastern Promises the movieCurious George Goes Green The Doom Generation dvd

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today, (thanks Paul) reminded me that I needed to put up the diagram from church on the edge process and links with Off the beaten track that the other Paul helpfully did. For more info on the circles check out the links in the right hand column either “The Tacking Church” under articles or “Off the beaten Track” under Talks and Presentations

So much happened over the weekend it is hard to know where to start. At the beginning of the weekend in the bus we did a Flow gauge, where (using pictures of a skater in various stages of performing a trick) we asked the young people to gauge where they were in their understanding of what flow was all about eg 1 if they were clueless and 9 if they thought they had is sussed. At the end of the weekend they again completed the gauge to see if their understanding had changed. What was most interesting was that the young people who we had the best conversations with either marked themselves the same or decreased, whilst the yp that didn’t engage so much increased or stayed the same.

We told the story of Abs which was great and some really good dialogue around it although I would not tell them what I thought the story meant. One guy was really anxiously trying to work it out, asking all sorts of questions trying to get a handle on what it meant he did not see how you could break your board and flow all the time or even experience Flow when not riding. The following day we get to this great skate park, that was too wet to ride and he is stoked and calls up from the bottom of the bowl “hey Rich I think I know what Abs was on about now I can feel Flow even though I’m not riding”. Yet on the gauge he marked his understanding as lower than at the start of the weekend.

I think this is something about God being beyond their paradigm of understanding, and blowing their concepts of Flow. It was real upside down kingdom stuff. Paul helpfully reflected on this with me earlier citing about how the disciples must have had preconceptions about the Messiah but Jesus quickly blew this out the water and they must have experienced the same confusion.

Just putting the finishing thoughts to the skate pilgrimage this weekend. We are taking 9 young people and going with leaders and family to cornwall to discover and explore Flow.
Below is an extract from the information we discussed with the young people and what we are hoping to discover. If the weekend goes well we will ask the young people to consider undertaking a rite of passage on the Sunday to join us in the Church on the edge.

Flow is hard to describe, is it those moments you have when you are in the moment, when you forget everything else and it just Flows? It is not about the amount of practice, or trying hard but about when it all just comes together and flows. As we visit skate parks and other places we will be provoking Flow, we want your help to make sense of the what Flow is all about. We want to go with the Flow, and talk about how we bring Flow back.
Skate and Bike Pilgrimage is limited to those people who want to explore what Flow is. If you are unsure about if this trip is for you, give Richard a ring with any questions.

In the beginning there was Flow and the Flow was God and God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And God’s Flow was hovering over the surface of the waters.

As God created the light His Flow was present, both in the darkness of night and the lightness of day.

As the waters separated Flow was all around, it ebbed and surged with the waves and the tides of the seas. At the creation of the land, Flow was in the soil and the solid rock, in the dust and in the sand, in the darkest depths of the land mass and on the surface of the land that was bathed in light.

So this creation might grow and learn itself to join the flow, God gave the sun to nourish the creation, and moon to increase and govern the tides and make the whole world flow in His likeness.

Gods Flow was so embedded in the land it came to breath, in colours of green, and textures so magical that Flow inhabited every corner, every leaf, every stump and root and plant. And because the seas were bubbling with Gods Flow they too sprung to life, and these creatures knew the Flow. So these creatures inhabited the sea and the land, and when their feet were rooted in the soil they were rooted in Flow. All these many kinds of living and flowing animals, birds and insects, creatures large and small Flow created.

Finally God said Let us create humanity, they will have Flow within them like us and live in the earth.

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