Sanctus 1 at Spirit Of Life



Watch out for us at the Spirit Of Life festival at Manchester Cathedral on Monday. This is a Christian take on a mind-body-spirit fair that set the Daily Mail's alarm bells a-flutter (no, you won't get a link here) and introduced our old friend Andy Salmon the fire breathing vicar to the wider world.

We'll be running a service at 1.30pm during the festival, in which we will explore the concept of perfection and scarring. The whole day runs from 11am until 5pm and you can book a ticket here.

We'll also be bringing our first new flyer for years. Our new design will released into the wild at this Sunday's Sanctus 1 session, and is a play on our trusty logo - with bits of body parts culled from our harvesting at Greenbelt last year.

If you're not quite sure what that entails, come and see our stall at Spirit Of Life... you too can be harvested!

Sanctus 1 Easter Service

Small change: the Sanctus 1 Easter Service. This Sunday at Nexus Art Cafe, 10.30am

The Wednesday session next week will be a reflection and discussion on Easter in a local drinking establishment. We'll meet at Nexus as normal, at 7.30pm, then move on to a pub.

Lent season: forbidden pleasures... and pleasures in the forbidden

During Lent, Sanctus 1 is indulging in the pleasures normally forbidden at this time of year.

Because by indulging in them, we can only start to understand why we do, should or shouldn't be giving certain things up.

Here are just three of the themes we've covered so far:

- smoking. No cigarettes were lit, but we did sit in a room full of smoke to think about the huge amount of negativity or fear associated with images of smoke in the Bible;

- the city and modern life. Sanctus 1 lives and breathes Manchester, but cities were often dens of sin in Bible times.... or at least worth writing a very stern letter to. We explored the city looking for God and lack of God.

- the internet. From Martin Luther's 95 church-door tweets to finding your identity among your Facebook pictures, we commented, we were unmoderated, and we even logged off.

A sideways look at some Lent traditions, then. Of course, Lent isn't about rules or what should and shouldn't be lining your stomach. But if our season is giving you pause for thought about God's place in your busy life, then you've tapped in to the true meaning of Lent.

Anyone got a light?