Experimental worship can be off-putting to some Christians, who are used to following a set formula and are wary of new and weird approaches to praising God.

 

Ambient Wonder and Molten Meditation are the only local alternative worship groups of which I am aware. In the last few years, both groups have also organised worship sessions at the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham and people from each group helped create the first Soul Circus, which was on a par with the best Greenbelt worship.

 

At Norwich Cathedral on Saturday, December 10, a varied congregation of around 30 people gathered in the Nave for Soul Circus, yet there were no clowns or acrobats in sight. There was, however, ambient lighting and a stage, on which stood a vaguely cross-shaped sculpture bearing several monitors, all presenting swirling graphics, as were the two projector screens behind them.

 

The service began with some dance music that unfortunately cut off the start of Revd Suzanne Cooke’s introductory Isaiah reading. Bishop’s Chaplain Simon Ward, who led proceedings alongside Revd Cooke, then asked people to consider what was sacred to them and then answer on a provided card or by text message.

 

People’s answers were then projected onto the screens. Some were obvious, e.g. ‘God’,‘The Bible’, and ‘Life’; some less so, like ‘darkness’ and ‘riding a motorbike fast’. It was good to see the varied responses to the same question. Interactive elements like this are one of the best elements of alternative worship, avoiding the more prescribed structure of traditional church services. It was one of the most effective aspects of Soul Circus. That, plus a video of a beautiful singer superimposed over NASA footage of the earth, whilst singing the moving ‘Gloria’. For me, this was the evening’s most sacred moment.

 

There were less effective elements, such as when everyone was led into the choir stalls, where two young women began to sing quietly. The idea was presumably that others would join in, which no one did, but the girls were pleasant to listen to.

 

Accompanied by a small percussion band of young people from the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage, Simon Ward repeated parts of the Eucharistic Prayer so it became a sort of rap, the desired effect of which was unclear, other than to give ancient liturgy a modern slant.

 

For the following communion, however, some quiet acoustic guitar worship in the background from Soul Circus’ DJ and video mixer Robin Vincent, worked better. I really appreciated the time after I had received the bread and wine to sit and be still whilst others went up.

 

Afterwards, Suzanne Cooke, also the event’s organiser, said: “We really wanted to get something that was creative, sacramental, i.e. a communion or Eucharist, and aimed at youth. That really just means anybody who (is young at heart).”

 

The first Soul Circus achieved these goals and hopefully, word will spread so more people will attend the next event at King’s Lynn in February 2012. It is an opportunity to experience something different, challenging and affecting. Plus, they might get a nice goody bag at the end, as with the first one.

 

Explore further at www.soulcircus.org.uk  

To see more pictures of the event visit: