There’s a lot more to Church than what we’ve grown up with and know locally. Greenbelt never fails to bring that home to us. With all its dazzling variety and vibrancy, each August Bank Holiday Greenbelt celebrates the arts and the Christian faith.
With about 18000 others at Cheltenham Race Course, our happy band of pilgrims discovered this for themselves. A party of ten in a minibus (fuel and hire paid for out of The Hood Fund) travelled with much excitement and frivolity from Belford and Alnwick to the deep South. The Hood Fund made the whole trip affordable – the group paid for their own tickets and food, but having the transport provided made a huge difference.
We were a mixed bunch, some attending a local Church (a mix of Anglican and URC), and some with no Church connection at all. En route we picnicked in Breton Hall’s Yorkshire Sculpture Park in South Yorkshire, a preliminary taster for all the arts to come.
On arrival it was not long before we had all our tents up, with a canopy in the middle under which we ate our meals together, and a flag fluttering proudly from a homespun mast (the Northumberland Flag, naturally). After a meal, as night fell, we set off to explore the festival site proper, among the grandstands and infield of the racetrack.
A cacophony of sound and a kaleidoscope of light and colour assaulted our senses as we browsed among the shops, food stalls, marquees and conference facilities. It was fun just looking around at all the other festival-goers: young and old, from babes in arms and long grey haired sages. Every fashion statement imaginable (and some un-imaginable) to be seen. It’s Church, Jim, but not as we know it! Here were people from the Iona Community, the Northumbria Community, Anglican Franciscans, and every denomination known, and some we’ve probably never heard of!
For teenagers worshipping in isolated rural churches, the message is clear: you are part of something much bigger and there are plenty of young Christians around – they are just spread out and not all living in your village! The crowd also said young and old can camp, worship, learn, and explore the arts and faith together.
Imagine what it was like all gathering in our thousands for Sunday morning communion in a sunny field. Sure, throughout the festival there are networks for youngsters who want to be among exclusively youngsters. But it’s not necessary if they don’t want to. And “ if they don’t want to” is another significant phrase. The site is secure. We all had mobile phones. The teenagers were free to set off and explore the festival on their own in twos and threes without adult supervision. Regular rendezvous points and meals together provided the necessary oversight – but they were free to explore in their own time and at their own level.
Free to enjoy the great live music of every genre, from classical to jazz with everything else in between. Free to enjoy a live Radio One DJ. Films. Theatre. Sculptures. Photography. Paintings. They were free to dip into talks ranging in scope from the emerging Church, what makes for a good or bad hymn, cosmology, Christian meditation: you think of it, it was there.
Christian Aid, Drop the Debt, coalition against child soldiers, the campaigns and organisations were endless. Plenty of challenge, awareness raising, and opportunity to be part of the Church making a difference: speaking out, and standing alongside the most vulnerable. This is a Church on the move, going places. A Church confident, with vision.
And all the while we watched a group of young people from north Northumberland watch their horizons panning out at the speed of light. Wonderful.
On our way home we stopped off at Ann Hathaway’s cottage (Shakespeare’s wife’s family home) just outside Stratford upon Avon, a nice literary note to end an arts festival on.
And we all want to go back for Greenbelt 2006. Nothing will keep us away. See you there!
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Dave and Diana Herbert