i realise i never got round to posting this photo up before now. this was one of three that i exhibited as a station for the stations of the cross exhibition in oxford. the station i had was barrabus, the criminal who the crowd choose to release and in so doing condemn christ to be crucified. it was one of three that i called studies in crowd behaviour 1, 2 and 3. the first studies in crowd behaviour 1: wishful thinking is here.
i forgot to look at this in the run up to easter and today is the last day it is on! but if you are in york have a look at the via lumnosa, an after dark series of projections following the journey of the passion. i am hoping there will be some photos to follow... again it's alt worship getting into the public space rather than church space which is a welcome trend. sue wallace and visions are the team behind it.
i think i mentioned it before but beyond in brighton had a similar public art journey - easter path which needed ongoing attention it semms . they say this about moving into public space...
It is time we stopped huddling away in our churches concentrating on our own little rituals and iconic observances and found ways to engage with those around us who are looking for some hope and inspiration and Easter is a great opportunity for that.
grace fire logo from jonny baker on Vimeo.
i have posted a set of photos from the grace easter vigil on flickr. it was a wonderful service. in case you have not come across it (and i hadn't been to one before) it begins with an easter fire - adam had drilled a grace logo in the side which looked brilliant. after some opening words and prayer then the paschal candle is lit and everyone takes a candle and lights it from the paschal candle. people process around the church three times before entering the church. it was drizzling with rain but somehow that made everything more beautiful with the reflected light off the wet surfaces. there is then a period of waiting and reflecting with readings and meditations. at the gospel reading everyone stands and the lights are turned up. baptism vows are renewed - adam had created a sprinkler so that everyone got wet. then at midnight(ish) the bells are rung and fireworks let off to celebrate easter. prayers and the order of service will get added to the grace archive which i will link to then...
i have added some videos to my vimeo page - easter fire | vulnerable flame | grace fire logo | flickering grace
i am making the vigil a worship trick so i have a record of it - i will come back and add the detail... that is number 63, series 3
the grace easter vigil was wonderful last night... more photos and description to follow. but this is the moment the paschal candle was lit from the easter bonfire.
happy easter! christ is risen!
ian adams' painting from the oxford stations of the cross - all is lost: christ is lain in the tomb. this is a smply stunning painting - go and tell him if you like it as he doesn't do much painting! i think ian is going to produce some large prints of this at some point. a perfect image for this day - easter saturday.
if you want some words for this day then you'll do no better than visiting cheryl's when hope goes to hell - a vigil she is leading in prison. i am making her stations/service worship trick 62, series 3.
We wanted a God who would take away hell and banish it forever
Instead we have a God who enters it.
it's good friday so we thought we'd throw up one of proost's pieces for free. this is party because there was a glitch in the file we uploaded originally so some people have had problems downloading it so we feel bad for messing a few people around. and because we felt like putting something out there on good friday anyway. to view this i have embedded it full size so stretch your browser window so that the whole animation is in there and then you click through the slides on the bottom right. if your window is too small, download it - see below. the movie 12 stations is a great accompaniment if you haven't seen it. thanks jon for agreeing to give the meditation away. if you've paid for it already and feel hard done by e-mail me and i'll create a coupon for you to download something else. if you are a proost subscriber you could access this anyway. you can download it here and use it either with flash player or open it in a browser if you want to use it offline.
i had a scroll back through the worship trick series and these are other things i noticed related to the season. if you have things you have come across leave a comment and i'll take a look
bitter journey
seven sayings - which has now moved to here
three days
ecce homo
a couple of animations
tenebrae
dead man waiting
good friday stencil
graffiti stations of the cross
easter liturgies
shooting jesus images
holy week reflections
passion pictures
something old something new is an article i wrote for the leadership journal in their current issue. the piece has just been put online. in some ways it's nothing that i haven't said a few times before but i'm quite pleased with it...
it opens up talking about stations of the cross in hamilton run by dave white and friends (which i previously blogged about here taking street art to a new level when i met dave last year) which is a curious case of good timing as this year's stations of the cross is running in hamilton as we speak. you can see photos of them here and the audio for the stations is also online - it looks wonderful as ever.
grace falls this year on easter saturday so we are making the most of it by having a reworking of the ancient easter vigil service. it starts later than the normal grace time - we begin with a refreshments from 9:15pm. at 10:15, we gather outside around the bonfire. then into the church to meditate, reflect, keep vigil. at midnight we celebrate the first communion of easter.
the launch of the stations of the cross in oxford last night went really well. jam factory is a great space for it - art gallery meets bar and it means the art isn't just seen by gallery visitors. i expect there will be plenty of visitors. the range of media and types of art is broad and there are some really good pieces. this station of christ's scourging and crowning with thorns is by clay sinclair drawing on imagery now etched in our minds to do with guantanamo bay - simple yet powerful.
ian adams and matt rees are the two drivers behind stillpoint and they are chatting here with the gallery manager who seemed really pleased. she said to me that she was pleased and surprised it wasn't more religious - i'm not exactly sure what people think religious is but that sounded like good feedback anyway!
i took a few photos of the launch and some of the pieces. i'm about to head off for spring harvest (yes i know - first time i've been in years! - am doing some teaching and running an alternative to the big top celebrations each evening - reflective readings) so haven't had time to even add photos of my piece or others to flickr. but i'll blog about that later in the week assuming there is wireless internet and what i was thinking.
ian adams stunned everyone with his painting claiming he doesn't paint much but on this showing he definitely needs to do more. i'll add that nearer easter. the exhibition is on for two weeks so if you're in oxford go and visit - the perfect good friday thing to do...
i am taking part in a stations of the cross exhibition in oxford from 2-16 april in the jam factory. the station i have got to interpret is the release of barabbas. i am looking forward to it. the jam factory is a neat arts cafe/bar. the exhibition is organised by stillpoint. as i work in oxford two days a week now i think that qualifies me to take part! this is the invite to the opening night. it's a big bar - there's room for a ton of people so do come along on thurs april 2.
happy easter! christ is risen!
the grace lent blog 2008 draws to a close for another year...
you must read yesterday's reflection and you held me
tom wright's latest book surprised by hope is brilliant. it's also a great book for easter...
tom wright slams popular 'christian' notions of salvation as going to heaven when you die, of it being away from the world. he provides a quick tour of hymns and popular songs sung in church suggesting that they have a vague fuzzy optimism that things will work out all right in the end rather than the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead. these don't chime with the christian vision in the scriptures of the renewal of all things, of a renewed heavens and earth, of new creation, of resurrection bodies in a healed creation. i have gone on about this on the blog in my own way several times - what i have referred to as escapology theology. the reason it's important is that a vision of resurrection and a future hope for this world suddenly makes sense of developing all areas of life and culture, of the kingdom of god coming now on earth as in heaven, of being human, of hope (as opposed to a view that this world is going to be destroyed so what's the point?). mission in this way is joining in with god's mission of the healing of creation as we look forward to the day when it will be fully freed from its bondage to decay when there will be no more injustice, racism, brokenness and so on.
like all his books it's not thin but i really recommend it. preaching at a funeral earlier in the year really focused my mind on hope and what the christian vision of hope is as we stand in the face of the final enemy 'death'. and tom's book was a really good reminder of that. it's a theology i was introduced to at st matthews church in bath many years ago and totally reshaped my understanding of what faith was all about. it's encouraging that this theology seems to have regained currency at least in many circles in the uk. there is of course still a load of utter tosh espoused through the likes of the left behind series!
if you are preaching on easter sunday (which i'm not) this should inspire you...
i can't quite believe we're almost in holy week... where did lent go?
anyway i'm sure the blogosphere will be full of creative reflections and links to accompany the journey this year. so to get the ball rolling have a look at holy week reflections from lifewords. jeremy williams at short film in worship put me on to this. there's is a movie/animation/reflection for each day. just click on the day number to watch the movie. i don't know what the deal is with downloading them. but if you use flock (as i do) the way i find out the address of flash movies is as follows:
click on tools - page info - select media tab - highlight the animation and you can see where the movie url is. so day 2 is at http://www.sgmlifewords.com/easter/films/easter2.swf - then click file - save as and you can save that animation so you don't have to be online to watch it. i assume that this is an ok piece of info to pass on?... if you don't use flock, find your own work around - see the source code to find the url etc...
anyway that's eight short movie reflections right there...
this month on proost there are a couple of movies from mark berry and safespace in telford - one is a reflection in isaiah53 and the other on the coming of the spirit at pentecost. and jon birch has a new movie the cross. my favourite easter piece on proost if you haven't come across it is twelve stations... you can preview them all in the media player.
cms and the diocese of london have collaborated together to produce a new schoools resource for easter. this is partly inspired by the change of holidays meaning schools are still in action in holy week.
dennis morris, a photographer who toured with the sex pistols, was invited to give easter a visual makeover. the resulting images are pretty unusual and contemporary. they form part of a schools resource pack and the good news is you can download the images and pack free from cms! if you want a hard copy you can buy it from the cms shop.
congrats to ben bell, bob mayo, anita matthews, russell price and jenny baker who are the people i know who worked on it. i'm sure there were some others at the diocese end as well. the resource is aimed at 7-11 year olds. and as you'll work out if you download the resource, churches in the london diocese get sent a box of artefacts and so on to out on the workshops. you'll need to improvise if you are not in the london diocese...
if you use the images with young people (or anyone esle) i'd love to hear how they go down, how you use them and what connects or doesn't...
i'm making these images worship trick 25, series 3
well i had a quick visit to croatia this week to visit irena, mihael and ruben who make up mzk working with young people, churches, and young leaders in croatia. having done some training with them earlier in the year i had been invited back to be an outside reflector - they have been doing the work for about 10 years and are taking a pause wondering where to head next. we had a good time - hopefully i was some use... (fortunately being there meant i missed england's hopeless performance in football - looks like we will not be at the euro 2008 finals which is a depressing thought).
it made think that all work and things in life are seasonal, they ebb and flow. it's important to stop and take stock, let go of some things in order to create space for newness. sometimes we are so activist that we don't create space for rest, and letting go and waiting. i came across this article by anne lamott - it relates to easter but captures something important.
it also made me realise that although we can complain about church and the state of things in the uk, actually there is so much creativity, permission to do stuff, experimentation and other people to connect with. whereas in other parts of europe it can feel a lot more isolated. if you pray, pray for these guys. there's also a get together in paris this weekend organised by témoins (which sadly i am not at - though i will be watching a certain rugby match on tv from paris) - l’innovation dans les Eglises. Le courant de l’Eglise émergente. in case your french isn't too good, that's looking at innovation and emerging church stuff.
on the subject of europe and faith, the book that everyone is recommending at cms (now we are having a more european focus) is god's continent by philip jenkins that i noticed richard recommending as well.
i didn't manage to take many photos in croatia but like how these cranes came out almost insect like.
on the subject of photos, joel's friend bhav has been having fun with some long exposure shots of roads and traffic. and i love this abstract...
and i have added another album (portugal pics) to my member's page on the ealing LIP group site.
grace stations of the resurrection went well last night. 19 readings of the resurrection appearances were placed around the edge of the worship space. it was a bring your own station service so you never know who is going to bring something. but 10 stations appeared. the thing i was most pleased about in a way was that three people who have never taken part in producing something for grace produced stations including two guys who had never even been to grace before. our ethos of participation is alive and well.
simplest ideas are often the best. i really liked the damscus road - as you walked into the area where the station was, written on the floor were the words 'saul saul why do you perscute me?' and there were some dazzling garden lights set up that were triggered as you entered that space. the damascus road strikes me a something that could be explored as an idea for a whole service some time...
things are looking up had a pair of shoes suspended from a wire overhead which was a fun idea. hopefully all the ideas/stations will get written up and added to the grace archive in the next week or two.
i set up a station using the art of he qi which i have referred to before. there are several pieces on the resurrection so i just put them into a slide sequence that looped round. i have made a small quicktime video of the sequence if you are interested. there are galleries of he qi's work on his web site. well worth a browse.
this coming saturday 14 april at grace we celebrate the resurrection.
inspired by last year's lent bring your own station we are doing another bring your own station service. this is exactly what it sounds like. people turn up and set up a station in the worship space for people to look at/interact with/be inspired by. there is a list of 19 ideas for themes based on resurrection appearances, but you could also come up with something else. if no-one brings a station there is no grace...
details are on the grace web site.
[breathe went well btw - i have added some photos to flickr]
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