Deities perform music to tempt the Sun Goddess c. 1830 © Trustees British Museum 2017
Just back from a preview of the exhibition ‘Living with the Gods’ that opens at the British Museum on 2nd November. Well worth a visit – no dogma or doctrine, not ‘what’ we believe but ‘how’ we believe. Amazing to see artefacts 40,000 years old, one particularly; the Lion Man, a carved mammoth tusk of a human lower half with a lion’s head, a creature clearly formed from the imagination. Found in a cave with no remnants of human domestic habitation, as with other caves around, but in a space used only for ritual. A hunter gatherer society would have needed all resources concentrated on finding food and defending from marauders, how remarkable that members of the community were spared for the hundreds of hours the carving would have taken and that they made time for gathering in ritual.
Lion Man ©Museum Ulm; photo Oleg Kuchar
Seeing all the artefacts from every continent on our planet, with over 4000 religions in the world and an estimated 85% of the world population engaging with some faith path – gathering together for purposes that are not about practical day to day living are clearly important to human beings.
It’s interesting to note the growing trend of humanist communities meeting together to share readings, sing songs and reflect together. There is something about ritual that seems to be vital to what it means to be human.
With an integral understanding of human development and living in a diverse, urban community I’m aware, and indeed delighted by, the myriad ways we celebrate our beliefs in the 21st century. The privilege for me as an independent minister is that I’m free to lead services that are creative, inspired and without constraint, crafted for the very people who attend. It’s my delight to lead ceremony that moves from the heart of those gathered, that is held in a container of belief in the power of the spirit flowing between us, whether we call that power God, Allah, Love or divine consciousness. Ritual that is not delivered as performance but rather emergent, dancing in the light of those drawn into the sacred circle.
At Mosaic, our monthly interfaith gathering, we sit in a circle around a simple altar with a theme brought by the turning of the year and by the joys and concerns of those gathered, we share stories, poems and song. We celebrate, we grieve, and we listen deeply to each other. We do not aim to ‘teach’ but rather to learn from each other what it is that makes our collective heart sing.
The opening section of the Living with the Gods exhibition focuses on the elements of fire, water light. Delightful are the artefacts that tell stories from different traditions about how light came to be – maybe the raven stole it from the box of the old man; the Japanese say that it was the music that tempted the Sun Goddess from the cave, that brought light to the world. However light came to be, finding ways to keep it lit is surely an imperative for us here & now. Coming into a sacred circle of lovers does it for me!
Mosaic is open to everyone - if you would like to know more do contact me, Anne Cross
0772 0841 826
