happy christmas!
regardless of theologies and postmodern theories and new ideas of church, and irrespective of our programmes, plans and energy levels, God will come and be born in our world...
...he will be born in our world whether we are ready or not, deserving or not, prepared or not. The incarnation of God will defy our plans, upset the organised and come with ease and rapturous joy to undeserving sinners and the poor in spirit.
[a quote from maggi dawn's book]
this is the most thought provoking nativity i think i have seen since steve's chess set from amos trust... the nativity wall is detachable which is sadly not the case for the real one.
i have been really enjoying maggi dawn's advent book. it sits on the kitchen table and each morning or evening i read the reflection. she has some great insights/nuggets that she draws out of passages from the bible. her stuff on abraham and elijah has been particularly good at least for where i'm at. inspired by maggi one of our grace services in lent will explore elijah's desert journey.
other advent stuff (i find it's a very creative season - there's so much around)...
and on a completely different tack jon has stirred up over 100 comments so far on this cartoon!!!
this month's proost release sees one advent movie and one christmas movie
wait was originally created for vaux by kester. it last 12 minutes and embodies the advent theme of waiting with 6 minutes of the word wait and people standing on train platforms before moving to a reflection of words fading in and out. it really is beautiful... it originally had the sigur ros track svefn g englar from the album agaetis byrjun underneath it. we don't have the copyright/permission so you'll need to download or buy it yourself or use something similar.
and silent night is a new animation from jon birch that sees people journeying to visit jesus christ. perfect for all ages...
they are both in the movies section of the site and can be previewed in the player.
i love seeing what steve taylor and community get up to each year for advent. if i was in new zealand i'd love to join in. of course it's a bit different to what you can do in the uk as it's summer!
well this year they have a peace labyrinth that has a wonderful promotion campaign and video. driftwood little people with eyes are being left around the city with a tag on saying take me to the peace labyrinth. you can read about it on steve's blog but do watch the trailer. this is fun, spiritual, in the marketplace, and totally over the top - brilliant. i look forward to seeing how it goes.
i picked up this link via steve taylor's blog...
andy michael made three movies for advent last year for jacob's well community in kansas and they are really good quality (the kind of thing we could easily put on proost) and free to download. i think the first is my favourite. i am currently reading tim keel's book intuitive leadership. i've met tim a few times on visits to the US so. he is also at that community so that was a neat connection. i'll blog about the book when i finish it or when i get time!
on the subject of movies, bob carlton sent me a link to this quirky wonderful video vittorio cosma - passo - dopo passo . the blog that this is from no fat clips looks jam packed with stuff if movies is your thing. if you find any good ones if you have time to trawl through let me know in the comments.
[note: all these movies are fairly large]
last night was the grace christmas celebration nine. i think this is the 6th year we have done this which is definitely as traditional as we get! taking the nine readings from the trad nine lessons and carols service, nine volunteers choose a piece of music and something artistic/creative to do/show/reflect on. it's a really simple idea.
this year didn't disappoint. nine sets of helium balloons defined nine spaces from which the readings would be done. each reading was signaled by one of the kids bursting a balloon at that space. this was a simple idea but it really made the space work as a whole.
i did the reading of the birth of christ which was a good opportunity to use si smith's amazing 25 advent models. people got cutting and sticking and within 10 minutes or so we had created a nativity scene. my tune this year was foy vance's gabriel and the vagabond, a story of hope.
the most dramatic reading was ben's who reflected on thin places, where heaven and earth seem to touch. the reading was from behind a muslin sheet with projected stars on it. having described the shepherds on the hillside experiencing a thin place that night, he produced a samurai sword and cut through the muslin sheet which was a first for us and the sword was quickly locked away out of sight...
mince pies, mulled wine and cntrst DJing rounded off a good night.
i'm sure photos will get added to the gracelondon flickr group in the next few days and the archive will no doubt list the tunes etc some time soon...
cheryl has posted an outline of an advent service/reflection she led on the text from isaiah about beating swords into rakes. wonderful as ever...
kester has dug out some good stuff for advent...
a video a day on paperless christmas through advent with a wonderful team of creative people who have put it together which i am making worship trick 18, series 3.
and if you follow the blog you'll know i have visited and enthused about santas ghetto, a collaboration between street artists each december. well this year it is in bethlehem! and proceeds from sales will go to local projects. wow... and the artists have been adding their touches to the 'apartheid' wall.
i also got a surprise today with the guardian which is doing a free piece of christmas wrapping paper by an artist every day this week. well today's was by mark wallinger (of the bear suit fame i blogged about who could win the turner prize today?) and was simply a sheet with the words 'jesus christ' in red and green in small type over the whole paper. it's so simple and i wish i had thought of it! brilliant...
it feels like advent is under way.
it's the grace advent/christmas service this saturday - nine.
nine people take the traditional readings from a carol service and select a track to play and something to do - a reflection, piece of art, audio visual piece, ritual etc..
always simple but profound.
mulled wine and mince pies to follow - join us if you are around.
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