jonnybaker

back at london mind body spirit festival next week

we're back at the london mind body spirit festival next week.

as dekhomai we will have a stand in the marketplace - booth 43. we will be offering spiritual resources from the christian tradition to visitors. we often get asked what dekhomai means - it means the welcoming place. we want to provide a space of welcome in the busyness of the festival, a listening ear and a space for prayer.

at our stand everything is free...

be listened to and prayed for
receive prayer for healing with the anointing of oil and laying on of hands
make a dekhomai prayer cord to help you pray
have a go on the Jesus deck to see how Christ's story connects with your life
sit down, chill and have a foot or hand massage
receive a blessing (we will be using john o donaue's book benedictus)

our popular dekhomai postcards will be back with two additions to the set - see the photo album for the images and text from the cards...

we'll also be leading two meditations in the meditation room on wednesday and sunday at 2pm. tess ward is leading one on celtic mdeitation and peter rundell an igantian meditation.

the image above is of one of the cards which you may recognise from my foggy photos...

ascent

ascent, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

gift

the garden in brighton are a very creative group. they have done various installations and alternative worship experiences at greenbelt over the last few years. the good news is they have started a wiki site to share the resources from the services they have done. each one seems to have a script you can download...

i liked the gift and am making that worship trick 33 series 3 . keep it tucked away until valentines day next year.

the influence of deconstruction, caputo, and rollins seeps through the liturgies! i like their words/comments on who they are on the vision page - poetic | contemporary | provisional | ecstatic | rooted | transformative | inclusive | collaborative | influential

mark who is one of the key people making the garden happen also takes great photos

[i just noticed that that is two posts in a row unrelated with lovehearts in - mmmmm]

oxford art exhibition - pulse

pulse opens this friday. it's a new art exhibition at st aldates in oxford of work by oxford artists. as i now work in oxford (two days a week) i am eligible to enter and have had three photos accepted for the exhibition which i am pleased about. 

it runs from may 16-31 but check the opening times as it varies when the exhibition is open. but the main gig seems to be several open evenings - fri 16, sat 17, weds 21, and fri 23 at which you get a glass of wine and serenaded by a jazz band (in true oxford style)... apparently 400 people are showing up to the private view. sadly i'm going to miss it as i am in leeds for the last of this year's ReSource weekends.

a friend jono has been working like mad to get this together - looks like it should be good. 30% of sales go to support the oxford charity ACT.

the long road - a new play about forgiveness

the forgiveness project is an amazing collection of stories of forgiveness. it has been exhibited as a series of portrait photos with the accompanying stories. i first saw it in london at the oxo tower back in 2004 and it has also been to greenbelt... since then the stories have multiplied. norman kember's is one of the more recent ones.

my sister esther (you may remember me blogging about her film) and her charity synergy theatre have been working with the forgiveness project and she is directing a new play the long road about forgiveness from 19 may to 5 june at soho theatre. i chatted to her today about it and she is really excited. the long road evolved out of stories and research with prisoners with whom she has worked now for over a decade in one way or another. its debut appropriately was in a prison yesterday. esther is the founder and artistic director of synergy.

i'm looking forward to it. if you are in london go and see it...

justice and mercy - joel daily bread notes

i meant to mention this earlier in the week but forgot...

the current week of daily bread notes are written by me on the book of joel - justice and mercy. not an easy book! you can link to the notes from the link...

previous ones i have written are strength in weakness,  redemption songs on psalms and nativity play for today though for some strange reason they have all been attributed to phillip mountstephen!!!

edinburgh photos

i have now added my edinburgh photos from a day i spent there last weekend and created an edinburgh set

if anyone recognises this bride let me know - it was a wedding i was passing on the royal mile but think it's rather a nice photo and she might like it...

signs of the spirit

signs of the spirit grace tomorrow night

i absolutely love dean's photo that he has used for the flier

off to nick cave tonight which i'm looking forward to...

into the light

on the march, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

two exhibitions manipulating photography

i had an easy day today recovering from a busy bank hoilday weekend. i was in london for a meeting but then visited a couple of photography exhibitions which are both brilliant...

gilbert garcin started taking photos aged 65 which in itself is pretty cool and is now exhibiting aged 80! he creates these wacky surreal collage photos. apparently he makes them blue peter style by cutting figures out and pasting them on backgrounds and projecting slides. and you can tell in some of the photos but it really adds to the charm! they are quirky and funny, visual gags really. well worth a visit at hoopers gallery. there are a few examples here. i only found out about it via friends at LIP - for some reason it's not listed in timeout

then at mason's yard white cube gregory crewdson has an exhibition. he was featured on the photography series a while back on tv which i've forgotten the name of. he bascially constructs elaborate expensive scenes that are more like a film set with lighting and actors and so on. and then the prints are printed on a large scale (1.5 by 2m or something like that).  the exhibition must have about 20 of these photos and they are pretty compelling. a lot are of small town america, and somehow have a bleakness about them.

both of these artists are not just taking photographs - lots of manipulation involved. one makes you feel i might try that, and the other is on a scale out of my league!

whose table?

a good thought in progress from cheryl...

Most conversations about new forms of church or christian community are about rethinking the table at which the disciples sit. True confession… this project doesn’t emerge from any interest in that table, or even really in the disciples. i think the really interesting stuff of the gospels is the other stories - the tables Jesus went to where the disciples weren’t invited, or where they were so absent no-one thought to mention their presence - the afternoons at Mary and Martha’s, the nameless person’s house where Jesus met the syro-phonoecian woman, dinner at Levi’s house, dinner with Peter’s mother, the ‘water into wine’ wedding table… i think they’re the fun tables.

cross the lines

cross the lines, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

tearfund prayercast

my friend ben is behind the tearfund prayercast, a daily prayer podcast of about 10 mins, which was launched yesterday...

new movies for pentecost

we have added three movies to proost for may. they are all movie loops
flames flickering
eagle in flight
and incense smoke rising

you can preview them in the movie player on proost. my personal favourite of these is the smoke movie created by mark waddington which we have used loads of times over the years at grace.

wallpaper for the soul...

moving on resources

had a good time in scotland. it was my first ever visit to edinburgh and i enjoyed wandering the city... the church of scotland national gathering seemed to be a success. if you are visiting the blog having been there hi...

i led an hour worship/teaching/reflection in the evening. several people were asking about the material - what it was and where it was from so if you are interested in where the resources were from read on and follow the links... a lot of the movies and liturgies are published on proost, a company i help run. if you subscribe you can log in and download any of the content - movies, tunes and books of liturgies whenever you like over that year. it works out at only £5 a month!

Moving On Outline

Beforehand/Gathering
Tunes playing:
Wayfaring stranger Burial remix of Jamie Woon
So beautiful - Urban Myth Club
Build a Home - Cinematic Orchestra
Archangel - Haronell
Space and Time - Baker/Birch from Spirit of the New

Movie playing - Space and Time

Welcome/Chill
I am - movie, reading taken from Sanctuary Pocket Liturgies
Come Holy Spirit - from Grace
God above - from Spirit of the New
Jar settling movie is with a CD ROM on Tune In Chill Out
Tune (I am calling to you) was Lovebleeps by Laura B
i open my life to you prayer from Navigatio Pocket Liturgies

Moving On
The invitation of God - Grace Pocket Liturgies and available here
Share with neighbour one thing that you are already thinking you might be called to move on in...
Francis Drake prayer, St Brendan meditation, St Brendan prayer - Navigatio Pocket Liturgies

Reflections/talk
Follow me
Accompanying movie was Sigur Ros

Prayer/Ritual
Confession + Cross movie from proost - the confession is below which I wrote
Tune during writing dreams on paper aeroplanes - I love the way you dream - 1 Giantleap
Doors liturgy is below which I wrote inspire by other doors liturgies

Sending Out/Blessing
Missional turn - do you turn to Christ? - Grace Pocket Liturgies
Here is Love sung facing outward
St Francis Blessing
Final tune - Radiohead - Everything in its right place

scotland shapers confession and liturgy

the church of scotland's report church without walls identifies five shapers for the life of the church. these are: spirituality of grace, the gospels, locality, friendship, and the gifts of the spirit. i wrote this confession and liturgy around those shapers (inspired by grace's ethos confession and doors liturgy) which i used in the worship session i led at the national gathering. i am making this worship trick 32 in series 3

Confession

When we have acted out of judgement rather than grace
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy

When we have forgotten your story and been shaped by the story of the Western Dream of the good life
Christ have mercy
Christ have mercy

When church has taken all our energy and we've not had time to get stuck into our locality
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy

When all our friends have become Christians and we haven't made new friendships
Christ have mercy
Christ have mercy

When we have acted in our own strength and forgotten the gifts of your Spirit
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy

But when we are filled with grace,
live out the gospel
in our locality
make good friends
and share the gifts of the Spirit
then God rejoices with us 

Almighty God who forgives all who who truly repent
have mercy on us
pardon and deliver us from our sins
and keep us in life eternal
through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen

Shape Our Lives Liturgy

Shape our lives with generosity and gift
Help us love without judging and with no strings attached
We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked 'grace'

Your life, death and resurrection are good news
Let your story shape our story and imagination
We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked 'gospels'

You became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood
Shape our lives with vision that can be lived close at hand and not far away
We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked 'local'

You have called us friends
Shape us into faithful and kind friends for others
We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked 'friendship'

We will do through these doors in the power of the Spirit,
sharing in the gifts of the Spirit
knowing that Jesus has gone through them first.
Amen

mark i agree

mark i agree - obviously he didn't get my vote. it really is depressing...

linkage and worship trick 31 - sunday

a few news/link type things...

mike morris has started blogging.

beyond church has had it's first worship gathering that looks like it was a lot of fun. and their next event should be hilarious with the brilliant comedian milton jones...

ian adams is branching out into other creative areas and projects offering spiritual direction amongst other things

moby gratis is free music from moby for non commercial ventures. it's film score type stuff - ideal for worship background?

20 questions to use in a small group to get to know people

and darren wright has a whole worship experience called sunday that is free and downloadable. it was originally used at the australian black stump festival. i am making that worship trick 31

text exchange

last night of course i was in the pub watching the football with mike, joel and harry. meantime jen was at the grace knitting group - yes  apparently it is the new rock and roll! a selection of our text messages... mine are in italics and i'm sure you'll detect the smallest hint of irony in the replies!

1- 0 chelsea
how exciting!
1-1
oh no!
gone to extra time
wow - we've all stopped knitting and are praying for you
2-1 chelsea
our prayers worked!
3-1 woop woop
at this point a message from kester - torres off? what is the tinker man doing?! see you in moscow!
3-2
we'd better get praying again
victory
phew
at this point a message from a fellow chelsea fan - praise jesus!

i am a happy man - finally we get to see off liverpool in a champions league semi final at the third time of asking... can't wait for may 21 and the texts will be flying no doubt. blue is the colour...

wishful thinking

a blog i have been tracking for a while now is wishful thinking. i first came across it through bob carlton via a free book on time managing for creative people.

anyway the first thing to say is that there is another free book - this time on creative management for creative teams. it's aimed at people in creative business but (as you'll know if you follow this blog) mission, church planting and leadership all require creative thinking, skills and teams and are both what we need and something i am passionate about. here's a quote from the intro:

Creativity needs more than bean-bags and Playstations. And if creativity is your business, you know there’s a lot more to it than ‘thinking outside the box’. For one thing, you probably have to think inside a few boxes - such as the budget and brief, and your client or audience’s tolerance levels. So while you need to encourage blue-sky thinking and risk-taking, you also need to make things happen on time, on budget and to keep the end users happy.

Give people too much creative freedom and they may have a blast working on the project - only to end up frustrated when the client or audience ‘don’t get it’. But if you play it too safe, your creatives will feel constrained and everyone will be underwhelmed by the final result.

Not an easy balancing act to pull off. Even before you factor in a few creative egos. Plus the fact that creative people are not satisfied with just doing the job - they want to be challenged and inspired on every project, every day. They want opportunities to learn and hone their skills. And if they don’t get them in your team, sooner or later they’ll start to look elsewhere.

on the subject of creativity, he interviews roger von oech - see my review below. the thing i found most interesting in this interview was the question about limits or constraints actually helping the creative process. i really relate to this and think it's a mind shift that's useful if you are in any way involved in the emerging church - you're likely to have restraints around time and budget and people and maybe geography. rather than being a problem this could be an opportunity for some creative thinking?... my friend mark waddington is the person who introduced me to the idea that constraints and creativity were not mutually exclusive...

authors in the age of conversation also looks interesting but dare i add another book to my growing pile?...