Festival of Wonder brings people together in Stroud

St Laurence church has hosted three days of music, dance, circus performance, workshops and laughter, as the town gathered for Stroud’s epic Festival of Wonder.

Bryan Court, who chaired the organising team said, “Our aim really has been to try and show that the church building is there for the community, as well as the worshipping group of Christians.”

Speaking about the coming-together of teams of people with different beliefs to work on this project, Andy Bewley (Associate Director Giffords Circus) who directed the Magnificat, said “I have a friend who’s involved in set design, who I had to really convince to do the job; to work in a church. But he came out of it saying, ‘You know what, I’m more open to the idea of people believing in a God, or having faith now, because of this.'”

WATCH: Festival of Wonder in action:

The Revd Simon Howell, Pioneer Minister at St Laurence church said, “We noticed that we didn’t use most of the building; up there! Acrobats and aerial artists tend to fly around the building, and that makes people look up. And of course, looking up gives people hope, makes people think of God.”

When asked how the Festival had affected her, Abbie, a resident of Stroud said “It makes me think about things, think about life, about faith. Think about hope.”

The festival’s centrepiece was a performance of The Magnificat, a show repeated for different audiences (including one toned-down performance designed for those with sensory sensitivities, or limited mobility). The story of the Magnificat was chosen, as Bryan says; “… it’s a very key Bible story – the story of Mary saying ‘yes’ to the angel, and that beginning of life, that beginning of the heartbeat of Jesus.”

The festival brought people of all faiths and of no faith together, among the organising staff as well as in the audience. Andy said, “There is something about the universe which has a kind of heartbeat to it; there is this connection we all have to something way back when, which is the first beat; and science has ways of explaining this. So we are all in a way connected by this first beat.”

The Revd Simon Howell joins him, saying; “And from a Christian faith perspective, we’re very comfortable with that, because it’s the heartbeat of God. And we put that at the centre of this story.” Andy continues, “It’s almost like you go so far through science, so far through any sort of spirituality, and you’re ending up at the same junction; unknown mystery. Which is beautiful and exciting!”

The Revd Simon Howell went on to say, “I do feel that this, in some way, opens the possibility of what the Church of the future looks like; a series of festivals built on what people are really passionate about in the community, and working with that to open the possibility of God.”