Posted on December 16, 2009 in Books, creativity | Permalink | Comments (0)
today cms says goodbye to steve bevans who has been our missiologist in residence for 3 months. it's been absolutely wonderful to have steve round the place. i have leanrned so much from him. this is partly through his teaching and reading his books, but it's as much because of the way he is and who he is - full of faith, wise, curious, but incredibly humble and down to earth.
i've still not got round to reviewing his latest book theology in global perspective. perhaps i never will if i keep thinking it deserves something weighty so here goes - a few comments before breakfast...
steve's gift to the world is contextual theology - you may know his book on models of contextual theology. this is the insight that all theology is done through experience out of a context - socially, culturally embedded. so whilst we speak about god (do theology) we do it through that lens as opposed to a pure objective universal view of truth (that sat nicely with modernity but how did we ever think such a view was available?!). so to quote steve
there is no such thing as theology as such - there can only be contextual theologies: feminist, African, North American, Roman, Asian, theology of first nations and so on. A theology that might claim to be univesal is really one that is universalising - one that wants to impose a particular contextual theology on other ways of doing theology.
the move in his latest book is to say that because of this we need one another's takes down the ages and across the world - an intercontextual theology, a global conversation. it's only then that we will see our own blindness and discover insights about jesus christ and faith that we have never seen before.
there is a masterful laying out of theology as faith seeking understanding. that seeking is done globally and that is done in community. using the idea of variations on a theme steve busks several variations of his own - that theology is about activity not knowledge, that it is not located in the academy, that it is communal, that it is missional, that it is contextual... i loved these.
he then shows his genius by taking on the subject of tradition and the magisterium (sounds like something out of harry potter!). he is roman catholic so some of this is specific to that tradition but the moves he makes apply anywhere with his appeal to a depth and faithfulness to the tradition but to one that is living and moving forward. and that faithfulness at times will call for subversion for making a play that is not traditional but that calls the tradition back to faithfulness. it's a very rich piece. creative fidelity is the term he uses.
if you've not read models of contextual theology he has one chapter in this book that summarises that work pretty neatly. essentially this lays out a grid of relationships between theology and culture that contextual theologies take. what interested me the most about this summary is that many of the influences in evangelical mission theology seem to sit in the countercultural model. and on his grid that is the most negative posture towards culture. herein lies the reasons for so much of the evangelical legacy that is problematic in my view - it's basic theological instincts around culture are fearful and suspicious. i'd love to see this picked up and debated further. the following chapter is steve's summary of catholic method - on reading this i went and put my head round steve's door to tell him i was catholic (which of course i am, just not roman catholic). this is the second book this year that i have done that with. a sacramental view of all life, creation and culture, an opneness to all (catholicity) and an incarnational view of god's presence in the world are all compelling as is his critique of fundamentalisms.
the last section is a sweep of theology history which i confess i skimmed and need to come back to though ht to cathy ross who makes it into the line of the good and the great in theology!
if you want to read an inspirational book on theology look no further. if you prefer to read lectures or hear mp3s of talks then steve's cms talks are on the cms web site - have a search through the crowther pages.
steve peace for the journey and thanks for the inspiration!
Posted on December 14, 2009 in Books, faith, mission, theology | Permalink | Comments (1)
it's a bit of a proost week on the blog...
ben edson (who co-ordinates the worship at greenbelt) had the great idea of pulling together some of the liturgies from groups who had contributed to the worship programme at greenbelt this year to make a book in the pocket liturgies series on the festival theme - standing in the long now. this whole self publishing world is amazing - within 2 months the book was made, uploaded and printed. and is now available on proost either to download or as a physical book. contributions in the book are from sanctus1, blesséd, safespace, sanctuary, church on the corner, ambient wonder, foundation, sanctum and maybe along with the sunday morning communion liturgy. the series of pocket liturgies really has grown into a neat series...
if you subscribe you can access the book as a download in the download area.
i didn't mention it in the last post because there was so much advent stuff to write about and the books hadn't been delivered but they have now arrived.
other pocket liturgies books
(and same size but slightly different - )
Posted on November 20, 2009 in alternative worship, Books, faith, greenbelt, liturgy, proost | Permalink | Comments (3)
over the summer i read a number of books. i hope i can find the time to mention them or review them here over the next few weeks. one was spiritual intelligence by brian draper. brian was one of the people behind the creation of the labyrinth, at least the one that was first introduced to me that later got reworked into the st pauls labyrinth. he is a gifted writer and speaker. several years back he interviewed douglas coupland for third way and has obviously maintained the contact because coupland says in big letters on the front...
this book is inspiring
which is quite a coup (geddit?!). brian works with businesses doing training on spirituality - echosounder - so the book is from a christian perspective but written for a wide audience. i like it that it's spun in that way seeking a language that is widespread and accessible rather than churchy.
it's what i'd call layered in that themes are revisited and taken deeper so it's a book that you can read a section of, ponder and then revisit a while later. each section also follows through the same fourfold development of these icons. a large focus is on identity with sections on the false and true self. the bottom line is that most of us are too busy and are not paying attention - we know that, but slowing down or making space is a constant challenge. brian uses a coupland story of a power failure. when there is a power cut people get candles out, gather round, play games and have a very different experience of being together. coupland suggest he wants to live his life in a 'permanent state of power failure'.
the themes are about intentionality, awareness, slowing down, beauty in the ordinary, paying attention, dealing with your ego and the urge to compete and prove yourself to others, connectivity, discovering that giving away is better than focusing on your self. it's not just nice and fluffy (beauty and quietness and slowing down) but brian does tackle issues of the human heart and the need for facing and turning away from the false self - repentance and discovering who we really are. it's essentially about becoming more fully human.
it's a good read - i recommend it. it reminded me in places of mike riddell's wonderful book sacred journey if you ever came across that...
i think it needs a part two looking at the person of jesus christ in a non churchy way - just an idea bri?!
Posted on September 16, 2009 in Books, spirituality | Permalink | Comments (4)
Ben’s a surprise! When you meet him you think he can’t be a vicar in the Church of England. He doesn’t seem the type with his tattoos and piercings and spiky hair of whatever colour it happens to be that week. But then you find out he is one of these new pioneer ministers who get to create something from nothing, to share the Christian faith with people who aren’t in church. The church has realised that business as usual works for insiders but there are whole groups of people for whom church is like another planet, a different world. And it is going to take some different people to go on an adventure of the imagination to connect the Christian story with their stories in a way that makes sense. So Ben hangs out chatting to people, sharing the faith whether at school gates in the pub, on youtube online or out surfing gently growing a spiritual community or two that doesn’t require visiting another planet called church.Espresso scriptures has naturally emerged out of that – framing the scriptures as a daily short reflection that is sent via e-mail to people who are interested in spiritual things. They are straightforward, direct and creative – perfect for the morning to get you going for the day. It’s Proost’s first bible reading book I guess though it doesn’t quite feel like a set of bible study notes in that sense. It’s also Ben’s first book, the first of many we are sure.
So make yourself an espresso, rip out a page and digest it as you go. We’re delighted Ben brought it to us as an idea and now the idea has legs.
Posted on August 17, 2009 in Books, Music, proost | Permalink | Comments (1)
yesterday i was given a grove booklet - the road to growth less travelled by david runcorn. tim dakin, general secretary of cms was giving them away as he thought it was so good. tim is always enthusing about books and i've found several gems through his recommendations. the subtitle is spiritual paths in a missionary church. and yes it is a gem.
it's a real surprise, almost a relief, to find a book on the spirituality of mission that doesn't exhaust you in its ehthusiasm and hype. he suggests that the sea changes in culture have left the church bewildered and that the language and theme of exile might give some clues in the quest for a sustaining spirituality. how do we find depth when the temptation is for quick fixes or relevance? i loved this quote he writes from henri nouwen - i am deeply convinced that the christian leader of the future is called to be completely irelevant.
his five marks of spiritual growing are:
a way of loss
a way of darkness
a way of not knowing
a way of waiting
a way of the least
that gets real. he then draws on the work of mark yaconelli (whose work i have enthused about at length before) to suggest a contemplative way will help us recover a deep love for the world in which we live which is at the heart of mission.
that' a hasty sketch. i was struck last week by a conversation i had with a friend who is retired - he is in his sixties. he is a loyal, committed, faithful, evangelical (and fairly conservative at that), church going christian and has been for decades. he is the kind of person who is a backbone of a local church. he told me he was bored with church and quite a few of his friends were too. we're more at sea than we admit. i'll lend him this book. it may offer some clues...
if you haven't come across them grove books are shortish booklets (around 8000 words) turned round pretty quick on theology in a number of themed series - bible, ethics, spirituality, worship, evangelism, pastoral, renewal, youth.
Posted on July 31, 2009 in Books, mission, spirituality | Permalink | Comments (7)
john drane is one of the most thoughtful mission thinkers in the uk. i always enjoy hearing him speak and/or reading his books. i finally got round to reading his latest book after mcdonaldization which is an excellent follow on to the mcdonaldization of the church. 5 chapters touch on the themes of mission, culture, ministry (or leadership), community and theology and the challenges and opportunities they present in a changing world. one of the sections in his first book that caught people attention was his breakdown of society into 7 categories of people. somehow it caught the moment. he builds on that here by reflecting further on the spirituality and mission that might connect wit the different groups. it's a really helpful piece of work. in particular i was struck by the shift to lifestyle as a main theme for spirituality and mission. rather than asking credal questions, many people are more interested in how to live life - in a way that has integrity, treads lightly on the earth, lives with difference and so on. does christianity have any wisdom to offer on lifestyle? does it make sense in this way? i think this could be a key insight. i need to chew over it a bit more.
i have also been thinking and reading a lot on theological education recently as it's an area i'm likely to be doing more in with cms (well mission education) and i found the chapter on theology really helpful. john succintly spells out some of the challenges in theology and then offers a holistic, relational, creative way of learning. drane admits this appeals to the group he calls cultural creatives the most. being one i liked it a lot!
this is a very short review but if i wait around to write an in depth review it will probably never happen... a welcome addition to the books on mission and church in the emerging culture.
Posted on July 21, 2009 in Books | Permalink | Comments (4)
back in 2005 i wrote a chapter for a book on preaching that was subsequently rejected. i called it 'throwing a hand grenade in the fruitbowl' so maybe i was asking for trouble. deep down i was perversely proud of its rejection in a funny kind of way. i guess i am a reluctant preacher - i am a big fan of creative communication but find preaching invariably one head talking and it dulls me way too often. i like it when i am surprised and it is a lost art that can uplift and inspire and challenge. anyway... all that by way of saying that i then turned that chapter into a free pdf online. much to my surprise it's had quite a life of downloads - even being used in college courses as a set reading for preachers!
grove books contacted me earlier this year asking if i could beef it up a bit as they would like to publish it which i have done. the title has changed though the hand grenade in the fruit bowl line is still in there as the title of the first section! when i got back into the office yesterday a pile of grove books was waiting for me... so if you want a booklet on preaching by me it's out. oh the irony :-) it's actually not on the web site yet but if i notice it appears i'll let you know but it's called transforming preaching, is in their evangelism series, and is book no ev86.
Posted on July 01, 2009 in Books, faith | Permalink | Comments (9)
fresh expressions in the sacramental tradition is a collection of reflections/essays edited by ian mobsby and steven croft. it's a very welcome book. a fear that is often expressed is that fresh expressions is the play thing of evangelicals but a read of this shows that this clearly isn't the case. i wasn't expecting to think this but it made me think i'm more catholic than i realised! i actually prefer to resist those sort of tribal labels anyway - i've blogged/ranted about evangelical identity before and i don't find that helpful at all - being a follower of christ is enough for me. but here's a couple of the things that made me think i may be more catholic than i knew...
rowan williams opening chapter identifies these features of catholic spirituality:
non verbal expressions of faith
a central place to sacramental action
seeing christian life as taking time and use of the christian year
faith is a community experience and not just an individual one
then steven croft locates the movement in the tradition of catholic mission in the vein of vincent donavon and roland allen - with central themes of the missio dei, incarnation, and the formation of disciples in community
steven croft's chapter is brilliant - he uses the story of gamaliel in acts 5 who cautioned the sanhedrin to wait before judging the early church. steven croft suggests half the clergy in the church might be in that position of caution and writes his chapter to persuade them to come off the fence. he also makes the point that the resistors/conservatives are in every part of the church and my experience has been that conservative evangelicals have been the most resistant group to ideas of contextual mission as they seem convinced that their way of doing things is the gospel itself! steven croft led the fresh expressions team for 5 years, has spoken with every diocese and lots of groups around the country. he is a wise man who brokered so much in what was a relatively short period so i really valued what i see as his parting reflection. he is now bishop in sheffield.
one of the things he talks about is whether the language of fresh expressions is helpful and says we had to have some language to 'talk about this movement of forming new ecclesial communities through contextual mission'. and it was that sentence where i thought - yes that is why this is so exciting! 'emerging church' 'alternative worship' 'emergent' 'postmodern mission' may come and go but if it has helped us recover contextual approaches to mission at the heart of what the church is about then it is an amazing thing...
there are chapters on various communities such as contemplative fire (i must blog about them another time), new monasticism, a couple of helpful pieces on liturgy and sacraments, and a few US authors such as karen ward, paige blair and phyllis tickle in the mix if you are looking for a book to help lever discussion in the episcopal context in the US.
congrats to ian and steven on this book (which i noticed was the window display in church house bookshop last week). it's not just another book on this stuff - it has a particular story to tell and role to play.
Posted on June 20, 2009 in Books, emerging church, faith, fresh expressions, mission | Permalink | Comments (4)
cms publishes a series of small booklets, a similar kind of size to grove booklets which are monographs reflecting on contemporary issues in mission.
the latest one is called telling it slant and is in two parts. the first is by john pritchard asking questions around the arts and how they represent an alternative spirituality and doorway to faith, and how they connect with mission. the second is a response which i have written called wise blindness and icons of the present - i'm quite pleased with what i wrote!
you can either sign up for the series or buy individual ones from the cms shop.
every so often something surprises me in a delightful way. i love it when that happens. the latest was when chris goan sent us at proost an idea for a book. it's a collection of poems and meditations riffing off lists in the bible - the beattitudes, the fruit of the spirit, a time to be born... i have fallen in love with the book. it really is lovely in every way. of course we said yes! and it's now out on proost this month as of yesterday. chris is part of aoradh - here's the foreword i wrote:
you can order a copy or purchase a download copy from proost
Posted on June 05, 2009 in alternative worship, Books, emerging church, faith, liturgy, meditation, proost | Permalink | Comments (3)
curation is a term usually used in the art world for the role of imagining and overseeing an exhibition space or spaces either working with one or a group of artists. it's a term that has been adopted by quite a few people in alternative/creative worship. in my memory it's mark pierson who came up with this as a helpful way of thinking about worship leading both in the prodigal project and in the cd rom fractals. we have adopted this as a term to describe the person who leads a creative team putting together worship in grace and found it a helpful way to think about it. mark pierson describes a worship curator as
however... i realised the other week that whilst i go to quite a few exhibitions i actually don't really know a lot about curation in the art world other than experiencing the fruit of the work. what is the discipline? what is the process? what are the skills? what makes for good curation? so when i was in a gallery bookshop i bought a book called curating subjects - a pretty obscure text in some ways - that is a series of pieces on curation and what it's role is and where it's headed. i have been so struck by the richness of the ideas that as a result
a) i think if i'd taken another set of turns in life i would love to be an art curator!
b) i'm going to try and blog a few pieces in relation to ideas in this book that might connect if you are involved in worship creation/curation.
c) i think this could be an ongoing series where i want to reflect on particular curators of alternative worship and interview them about how they go about things (i haven't asked anyone yet but it's an idea!)
so first up a pragmatic post. i wrote some notes for people taking a lead role in planning a grace service a few years back when we were first shifting to working in smaller creative teams rather than everybody planning everything (why did we ever think that was a good idea?!) and they might be of interest. they don't really get under the skin of curation. but it's how things get done!
if there are particular worship experiences/events/installations that spring to mind that you think it would be really interesting to know how they were pulled together leave a comment. i want to compile a list of people and events to explore in conversation. if you blog and want to dive in the conversation on curation please do and send me a link if you write something so i can track the dialogue.
Posted on May 07, 2009 in alternative worship, art, Books, emerging church, grace, leadership | Permalink | Comments (14)
if you came to the teaching that joy and i were doing on the theme of apprenticeship/discipleship i have uploaded our slides for you to download as a pdf file apprentice. i really enjoyed working with joy - we were very different stylistically (- spot the difference in our slides!) but i think that difference brought very different edges.
if you came to the sessions i led on prayer, my wife jenny is better in this area than me. a few resources you might like that she has written are tune in chill out, and heart soul mind strength. you can download the breathing prayer here and there are a couple of examens here. sleeping with bread was the book i mentioned on the examen.
if you came to the worship we led, we loved having you there. grace has an archive of prayers and liturgies some of which we used - see wounded and slow for example. and i run a series of worship tricks - 1 | 2 | 3 which you can scroll through for ideas. if you had to describe the worship i guess it was contemplative but it comes out of a movement known as alternative worship. i have co-written a book or collated a book called alternative worship. and in recent years proost is a web company i help run that has a ton of resources - music, books of liturgies, and movies. harry was amazing this week and people loved his poetry, half of which was written on site. he goes under the name dubb and is on myspace here. i think we invented a new genre of worship mixing chants with rapped invocations! we will be putting an album out on proost of his stuff in the summer. laurence keith goes under the artist name harronell - his music is beautiful and he has an album harronell on proost that you can buy to download. listen to the track archangel on his myspce - one of my favourite tracks of last year.
if there was anything else we did that you want to know where to find it let me know in a comment or e-mail.
i work with cms and chatted to lot sof people about the current exciting shift to community
it's the first time i have been at spring harvest for 7 or 8 years i think. for those of you who haven't come across it, spring harvest is an evangelical mainstream christian festival. it caters for families really well with a very good childrens and youth programme. then there's a mix of bible teaching, seminars, and a celebration in the big top with lots of singing, preaching and all that (i was in the bar last night having my own celebration as chelsea beat liverpool so brilliantly at anfield!!). it won't surprise those of you who know me if i say it's not where i am most at home these days. in fact i feel like i hardly connect with this world - i don't even know any of the songs. and it seems pretty similar to when i was last here. the worship we were doing was on the edge, an alternative - always a place i feel more at home. called reflective readings we attracted a crowd who really didn't like the big top either because of taste, or because it was simply too noisy. we ended up with an older crowd but we so enjoyed them - they didn't have any of the usual postmodern angst!! a highlight was an evening where we went and lit a fire and built a cairn on the beach...
Posted on April 09, 2009 in alternative worship, Books, faith, Music, spirituality, worship tricks | Permalink | Comments (8)
i have really loved how the pocket liturgies series has developed on proost. a small idea has quietly grown so that we are now releasing the eighth book in the series. the books are small pocket sized and simply capture the prayers and liturgies from particular communities - emerging church, alt worship or whatever. we think worship should be creative and emerge out of the life of communities rather than be produced on high from a liturgical committee somewhere.
the latest one out this month is from moot. moot began as a small collective of enthusiasts of alternative worship, which quickly became an emerging/fresh expression of church in central london. moot have tried to cultivate a healthy and integrated rhythm of spirituality in the heart of an incredibly busy city and have developed a rhythm of life as a way of living out the faith in practice. moot has four services, two of which are ‘the little service’ and ‘compline’. both are quiet, simple and contemplative liturgies that are held on the first and fourth sunday evenings of the month. this book brings together different versions of these services, reflecting the rhythm of life, along with suggestions of forms of contemplation to include within them.
i think it''s a great little book. i like the way they have structured service liturgies around the value words that form their core rhythm. you can download the book as a pdf or buy it as a physical product. ian mobsby is currently in australia so hasn't seen the book and nor has anyone else in moot yet but it is hot off the press...
also new on proost this month is a movie for mother's day and a set of 40 lent cards - ideal for personal use in your wallet or with a group round the meal table. have a look at the home page for more info.
i hope i don't sound like a stuck record but as well as being able to buy individual items on proost, the big deal is if you subscribe for £60 for the year and then you can access the whole back catalogue of downloadable content whenever you like as well as new monthly content for a year. and it is of course ever expanding.
Posted on March 08, 2009 in alternative worship, Books, emerging church, faith, liturgy, london, proost | Permalink | Comments (2)
i have ordered maggi's book giving it up for lent...
Posted on February 18, 2009 in Books, lent | Permalink | Comments (3)
the american bible society have produced the new testament as a glossy magazine bible illuminated: the book and it is a really impressive piece of art work. there's a lot of text for a magazine (it is the bible!) but the magazine is filled with wonderful photographs and quotes. it surprised me just how different it felt in a different format. the medium is the massage and all that...
i can imagine it on the magazine shelf at the tate modern. it looks that good and the art is contemporary and not 'religious' if you know what i mean.
i have left it lying on the kitchen table and read galatians this morning as if it were a feature in a magazine whilst drinking coffee.
being a magazine it's much more likely you feel you can dive in and read any article - i.e. you don't feel you need a great plan to tackle it.
similarly it doesn't feel like you need to get too holy with it - i.e. set aside a time and place to have a spiritual time - just tuck it in your bag and read it on the tube...
i'd read it on the tube.
i wondered if i would recycle it after it's been round a couple of months? i.e. it's in a more temporary format. i quite like that. it downplays its heaviness somewhat.
joel and harry liked it - it looks great, not embarrassing.
it would be a much better thing to give out in schools than the gideons new testaments (though more expensive!) or as a confirmation present or whatever...
the version is the good news - easy to read.
they are working on the old testament. i fear that will just feel too big! but it will be interesting to see. it's expensive - $35 which is the only down side. but hopefully the bible society will come up with creative ways for it to be used that won't cost people that much.
you can download a sample chapter here
i was talking with a friend yesterday about jamie olver and the ministry of food. he exercises a kind of leadership that is a good example of what is described in the book tribes by seth godin which i read over christmas. jamie has an idea and is passionate about it - getting people to cook and eat better and goes to extraordinary lengths to develop a tribe who are converted to the idea and communicate it to others.
the good news is that the book is thin and got big writing - i.e. it won't take you long to read! i think it reads well as number three in a trilogy with starfish and spider, and here comes everybody which if you follow the blog you'll know I have enthused about. together these are great books as dialogue partners in mission, culture, theology, church, and leadership in the new environment. at least I have got as much out of reading these as any book I have read recently on the emerging church...
a tribe is a group of people connected to an idea, or a dream or a vision. faith or belief is crucial here - the vision needs to be passionate and paint a picture of the future. this sort of faith is critical to all innovation. the kind of person who will have this faith is called a heretic in the book. by this godin means the heretic leader undermines the way things are, the status quo. their role is to create change they believe in. they don't care too much for organisational structure or official sanction to lead. they use passion and ideas. they are generous, care for the tribe and are focused on smaller numbers of fans/committed people rather than focused on numbers realising that a committed core at the heart of a movement is more powerful than a larger group. they are also prepared to take risks. they know that new things are rarely as good as the old thing was. but that if you wait for the new thing to be better you'll never get started and you'll be too late! tribes get stuck and it's these kind of leaders that unstick them or begin new things to effect change. godin contrasts religion with faith (and he's not talking about church per se) -
religion works great when it amplifies faith. Religion at its worse reinforces the status quo often at the expense of our faith.
having got the idea and the heretic leader(s), communication is the only other thing needed. and guess what - because of the new communication technologies it's never been easier and geography is eliminated or nothing like the challenge it used to be. that communication is between leader(s) and the tribe and then enabling communication between the members of the tribe to enable them to participate and initiate change. it's not about money - if that becomes the agenda people will opt out.
i probably like it because i am a heretic! that may not surprise you...
if you identify with this because you are a leader/heretic i guess the question is what are you passionate about or what's your good idea? and what's stopping you going for it?
if you are at the institution/organisation end of things looking for newness maybe the issue is to risk hiring people that don't fit in, that are not sheep like, that don't have a factory mindset, that will be leaders in their own right irrespective of the management structures in place. and set them loose...
the church of england is trying to do this with its pioneer ministers but factory and organisation and religion are proving to be powerful forces. i hope the pioneers are able to do it anyway through passion and vision and communication and connectivity. i guess they shouldn't be called pioneers if they can't! and it's a good reminder that a lot of pioneers will just exercise leadership and create tribes without the official sanction of 'ordained' pioneer leadership.
the quote i most remember from the book is actually from einstein
imagination is more important than knowledge
reading the book made me want to do something remarkable
Posted on January 19, 2009 in Books, culture, emerging church, leadership | Permalink | Comments (14)
congratulations to jenny (baker) on her new book that was launched at the youthwork conferences this weekend. it contains 50 worship ideas which are a mix of prayer, meditation, ritual, worship experiences, contemplative exercises and reading the bible. several have been tried and tested at grace. whilst pitched at youth it's actually a book that will work across ages if you like a creative approach to worship. as ever with jenny it's brilliant! it's available through proost.co.uk for £9. look in the books section of the site...
Posted on November 25, 2008 in alternative worship, Books, youth ministry | Permalink | Comments (2)
this month on proost we are really pleased to announce the release of sanctus1 pocket liturgies. sanctus1 are a christian community/emerging church/alt worship in the centre of the city of manchester. the book pulls together a flavour of their approach to and worship liturgies that they have developed over the last six years or so. i love this series of books. it is doing exactly what we hoped – giving voice to liturgy that is grassroots and creative emerging out of the life of communities rather than being produced by experts in a centralised committee removed from the context of the worshipping community using them. you can buy them as a physical copy or a pdf download in the books section of the proost site.
congrats laura, janet and rachel!
Posted on November 17, 2008 in alternative worship, Books, emerging church, proost | Permalink | Comments (1)
i read another john taylor book on the plane recently - the christlike god. you may remember me blogging about the primal vision and the go-between god...
one of the things that took me by surprise was when he writes about luminosity.
we should perhaps be ready to trust our occasional perceptions of the luminosity of the physical world and its apparent potentiality for becoming a voice and a word whereby we know ourselves to be addressed and held in relationship.
he says that the greek word for god 'theos' might easily be translated as 'shining' in some of its other greek usage. i like this idea. maybe energy or wonder might be other ways of getting at the same idea.
i recently had a conversation with someone about my photos and they said that my work had a luminosity, an almost god-like presence. this wasn't someone who is a christian as far as i know. but i was pleased and surprised with the comment and on reflction i am attracted to that sort of luminosity. i sometimes think of myself questing the light. i guess in this or this or this ?
i had a piece published in the latest issue of the london independent phortography magazine along with this photo which i submitted with this and this and this in the last issue which i was pleased about. i don't think i have posted it on the blog (at least i can't remember and can't find it). this is it...
A Mystical Quest
“Sometimes I think the people to saddest for are those who have lost or become numb to the sensation of wonder” Douglas Coupland in Life After God
In the film American Beauty Ricky films a carrier bag floating on the wind in front of a garage door for 15 minutes. As it does so he whispers ‘there is so much beauty in the world – I can’t take it in’. He films everything. For him the camera seems to enable him to look or see more closely, to pay attention, to see beauty where others might see rubbish. The mystics call this awareness. In this sense photography is mystical. At the recent annual LIP lecture Paul Hill described photography as learning how to see. He also shared his own sense of never waning interest and excitement in taking ‘small adventures’ locally with the camera on a kind of quest.
These photographs are taken in Gunnersbury Park in Ealing, which is round the corner from where I live, on one of my own small adventures. The combination of morning sunlight, frost and mist is almost electric. It has an incredible energy to it. I find myself on a morning like this questing the light, wanting to catch moments that will never be repeated before they pass. Paradoxically these sort of moments are both wild and still. There’s a wild rush of adrenaline and excitement but then in the moment of beauty I almost hold my breath, lost in wonder at the stillness. Maybe it’s being in the fast paced city of London that makes these fleeting still moments so renewing.
Posted on November 16, 2008 in Books, photos, spirituality | Permalink | Comments (3)
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