Notes from New Wine
Some of the St. Paul's party at base camp
Our visit to New Wine this year encompassed a few firsts for Alison and me. We had never been to an event like this before; not been to Spring Harvest or Grapevine. We had dipped our toes, so to speak, by making a day visit to last year's New Wine at Newark but a full week camping on site was another thing altogether. Camping! now that was new experience number one. We were more used to holidays in secluded coastal cottages or a nice B & B, in short somewhere where a waterproof roof, electricity, hot running water and a comfortable bed were expected as minimum requirements. A week under canvas on a showground more used to exhibiting prize cattle fell somewhat short of this standard especially as the previous few weeks had been the wettest for the period since records began. Previous camping experiences were limited and long ago and in Alison’s case not very pleasant. Despite this we were looking forward to pitching our shiny new tent on the plot allocated to the St. Paul's canvas village.
Not the driest place to camp.
We arrived in a small convoy on the Saturday morning and into a traffic jam on the old runway on the showground. The extremely heavy rain the night before had flooded parts of the site causing the stewards the major 'where do we put them all' problem. After a short while we were given our instructions and set off to pitch out tents. Parts of our camping area 'Red One' were very boggy but we found a good spot away from the swampy ground. A mallet was not really a required tool to hammer in the tent pegs into very soft ground.
Alison prepares a meal in our excellently appointed kitchen.
We had the whole day to sort ourselves out as the first meeting wasn’t until the evening. The main morning and evening meetings were held in a large permanent exhibition hall which had been set out with row upon row of seats. A large stage at one end of the building was the platform for the worship group and speakers. A large screen to one side allowed a good view for those towards the back. Each morning and evening meeting began with a time of worship followed by a time of teaching.
The theme for this year's New Wine was 'Cry Freedom' and many of the teaching sessions and seminars explored what this means to us. Every morning meeting Mark Stibbe explored this theme as we studied Romans 8, a chapter that celebrates the freedom we have in Christ. In the evening different speakers with very differing styles explored the theme further. On Tuesday morning there was an all age communion service led by Mark Griffiths. He filled his talk with stories presented in his own unique style familiar to us at St. Paul's.
Next year they may organise white water rafting
In the late morning and afternoon there were lots of seminars on all kinds of topics. I had ticked lots that I was going to go to but in the end only did a few. The teaching was so good in the morning that I had to give that time to sink in before another period of concentration. It was more usual for us to make our way back St. Paul's base camp for refreshments and to plan the rest of the day. We entered two quizzes after the evening meetings. We won one, but didn't come anywhere near the top in the second.
By Wednesday the ground had become less boggy and much of the standing water had gone and it looked like the weather might be changing. How wrong could I be? Heavy rain fell on Thursday making the site wetter than it had been all week. Several of the seminar venues became flooded and a few people on site had tent problems.
It all got a bit too much for our leader.
Although the week was wet and the conditions challenging we had a great week. The worship was tremendous, and the teaching, especially in the morning was inspiring. In all, the whole week was a wonderful experience and if I was told that the conditions were going to be as bad next year I would still go (although I’d take my wellies this time!!).
New Wine North next year is from July 26 to August 1 at Newark Showground. The theme will be 'Kingdom Come', 'Our father in heaven…let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven'(Matt 6: 9-10). Hopefully this short account will have encouraged you to want to be a part of the St. Paul's party next year. If you have children there are lots of things organised for them to do. We will be making a group booking later this year so if you are interested please let Revd. Brian know. More details about New Wine can be found at www.new-wine.org.
Michael Walker
