jonnybaker

the image that sums up the grace weekend away...

grace weekend 2009!

grass labyrinth at grace this weekend

walk a labyrinth at grace this weekend. hopefully the weather will b better than this last weekend!

spotify collaborative playlist - worship trick 67

matt who co-ordinates the DJs for the grace cafe each month came up with a fun idea for last week. he created a collaborative playlist on spotify and then invited a few of us to contribute in the week. you simply drag and drop tracks into it. then at grace the soundtrack in the cafe was that playlist on random play... collaborative DJing! worship trick 67 series 3. apologies if you are in a country where spotify isn't licensed!

in the spirit of collaboration i have created a jb blog readers collaborative playlist. so if you are a blog reader of mine and want to drop some tunes you are listening to on spotify in there then here's the http link and the spotify url

worship curation [2] : the making of a world

this post is the second in a series on worship curation
[1] opening up a series of reflections

what is it that a curator thinks about in relation to curating worship? in the first post i laid out a very practical list that i drew up for people taking the curation role in grace - thanks to the people who have commented btw. if you follow in a newsreader you're missing that part of the conversation. i'm beginning to think this is going to be a really interesting conversation as it plays out. i have started to and fro-ing with a few people via e-mail and plan to publish a series of interviews over the next few months.

in retrospect i'm not sure if such a practical post was the best way to start. maybe it was too functional? so let me come at the question of what it is that a curator might think about by suggesting it is three things: articulation, imagination and continuity. this is not my original thought! it's from an essay in curating subjects by simon sheikh on the techniques of the curator where he suggests that as curating looks to the future it should centre round these three notions.

worship imagines a world, nothing less. sheikh suggests in relation to exhibition making that if the curator is happy with the way the world is now they should continue to make exhibitions as always and repeat the formats and circulations. but if they are not content with the world they are in in a broad sense, and in the art world, then they will have to produce other exhibitions. i find this such a resonant idea. i'm not content with the world - globally, politically, or indeed the church world or the way worship is played out and imagines the world. so if you are curating worship what kind of a world do you imagine, do you make? maybe that is the most important question any of us can ask and it will probably take a lifetime to answer? if you are restless perhaps it is because you don't like the world being made for you by other imaginaries? i was talking with someone yesterday who had been at a christian exhibition for their organisation running a stand talking to the punters at a conference. but they were next to a stand that was selling worship cds for your church - if you didn't have a worship band, you could simply plug in their cds and sing along. the music played non stop for three days and nearly drove my friend insane. but the point is what kind of world is being imagined?! i want to create a totally different one. reflecting on alternative worship, which is where the notion of worship curation has come from, i think it has been about imagining new worlds, new relationships, new strategies and tactics, and counter-publics, about saying that other worlds are indeed possible, that business as usual simply will not do.

so these three themes...
articulation. this is how sheikh puts it (substitute worship for art or exhibition as you read any of these quotes):

a work of art is at best an articulation of something as much as it is a representation of someone: it is a proposal for how things could be seen, an offering but not a handout. articulation is the formulation of your position and politics, where you are and where you want to go, as well as a concept of companionship: you can come along or not.

worship is an articulation of something, of how things could be seen. i think this is really helpful. as a community or a curator you have a vision, a take. it might not be fully worked out but it is definitely not a neutrality. i think we sometimes want to pretend about this. if i reflect on this in grace, taking something like communion, we have articulated a radical vision of hospitality and welcome around the table in most of our liturgies - this is deliberately in the face and counter to the imagination of a world where only the insiders are welcomed. in the song table of christ one of the lines is 'come if the church stops you at the door'. this is articulation. articulation is also around more subtle things like deconstructing the front, or the role of the expert or priest, around posture and layout, and around the use of culture and popular culture in worship - making a world out of the stuff of everyday life rather than articulating a world which runs in parallel to the rest of life. i love the phrase 'an offering but not a handout'. art rarely works when it shouts - maybe punk is the exception?! and worship is the same. it's good to have clarity about what you want to articulate but it needs to be offered and explored rather than shouted and dictated. the tone and posture are really important. i also like it when art is multi-valent - functions at many levels and meanings so people can find a number of pathways through. but let's not pretend that this doesn't then have an articulation...

imagination. i go on and on about imagination and creativity. it's what it means to image god - such a gift. and the curating is a process about imagination. it's the fun part. at a macro level it's about ways of seeing, imagining another world, but it's also about imagining at the level of the process of coming up with ideas and dreaming things that have not been done before or have a different take. i will come back to the process of how people come up with ideas in interviews with people i hope. but it's so exciting to be involved in the making and producing in this way. i like to think sometimes that the angels sit in the rafters or on the balcony thinking what on earth are these crazy people going to do to worship today?! and we keep surprising them and bringing smiles to their faces. beach hut advent calendars, stations of the cross in public art galleries, embedding prayers in slabs of concrete, slapping containers of installations in city centres, sending surprises through the post, welcoming people dressed in contamination suits, guerilla worship... - i love what you guys dream and have dreamt and is yet to be dreamed. imagination - it's a muscle that can be developed and needs to be flexed and there's nothing better for it than being around other people flexing imagination, maybe it's a habit that can be caught.

continuity. i'll pick up on this more in interviews. but art/worship has a history a narrative or histories depending on who does the telling no doubt. there is a tradition, a line of ancestory, a communion of artists/saints worldwide and down the ages. to curate is to locate in this line sometimes straight, other times kicking off from, subverting, giving a new spin to, and opening up the traditions. it's how traditions get remade and taken forward. and the beauty of the art world and church world is that there is so much to play with. but it is a continuity whatever way you look at it even if sometimes a rupture is brought to that continuity. if you are located in a particular denominational setting (as we are in grace) this affords certain rules/logic/grammar. if you are outside of that, continuity will play out slightly differently. but the point is as a curator or team how are you locating in relation to continuity of the worlds before and the world to come? alternative worship in this respect was much keener to stress continuity and location in tradition in contrast with the modernising moves of worship in the 70s and 80s that broke with continuity going for the new.

this was going to be a quick post over breakfast and has extended a bit!... but a final quote from sheikh

producing a public is making a world. it is also making other ones possible.

worship curation [1] : opening up a series of reflections

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

A maker of a context for worship rather than a presenter of content.
(The content would be prepared by others.)
A provider of a frame inside which the elements are arranged and rearranged
to convey a particular message for a particular purpose.

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!

At Grace we have been experimenting with giving one or two persons this lead responsibility role as a way of sharing the load a bit. Maybe after 6 months or so we are better placed to reflect on how that's going and what it involves. When we first discussed it we came up with this list of tasks below. It's pretty good. I have now tried to embellish it a bit. What I am thinking is that we should come up with something as a document so that anyone curating has it as a reference point.

• facilitation of planning meetings
We usually have two planning meetings set aside for planning a service. Sometimes it is less if it is a simple structure such as 'nine'. The first meeting is usually a free flowing brainstorm, drawing out ideas and inspiration for the theme. The second one is the time when the ideas are knocked into shape for a service and reponsibilities delegated for the various components. The role of curator is to chair both of these meetings and keep them focused and on track. It is also worth doing some thinking for both ahead of time to have things to throw in to the mix for the first meeting and maybe some notions or ideas of how this might take shape before the second. Part of the meeting role is either taking notes on the discussion and order of service or asking someone else to and then e-mailing them round the group.

• reflection on emerging direction and content between meetings
After the brainstorm sometimes there is a clear idea for a service that is going to be easy to pull together. But other times the discussion may not have produced too many concrete ideas. In the latter case the curator should take the initiative to think what might help nudge the process on a bit before the second meeting. This could be e-mailing round some thoughts for discussion before the second meeting. Or it might be finding a few new ideas to throw into the mix, or suggesting a litugical framework or an idea of using stations or whatever to help give it shape.

• ensuring distillation of service order
It is crucial that by the end of the second meeting there is an order of service with names allocated for tasks. This must be circulated soon after the meeting as this second meeting is usually the Monday before Grace. As curator it is your role to fill the gaps - the order is sometimes less than complete!

• ensuring allocation of tasks
There are several areas of tasks. Each of these needs to be checked.
1. Tasks for the service order - hopefully most tasks for producing stations/prayers/liturgy/video etc will have been agreed at the second planning meeting. But it may be that there were gaps and you need to ensure that those gaps are filled. This may include asking people who were not present at the meeting.
2. Audio - somebody needs to be at Grace who knows how to run the sound. Usually we now plug into St Mary's PA system. But we can easily use the Grace PA instead. Your role as curator is to check that someone is there who can set this up (assuming there is audio required). You will also need to check that the music or songs required are able to be played via double CD player, ipods or whatever means.
3. Visual stuff - somebody needs to be at Grace who knows how to set up and run the visual side of things. This might involve drapes, slide proctors, TVs, data projectors, video mixer, laptops, and mac classics. These aren't all necessary but your role as curator is to help decide which of these are required and how they will be used in the space.
4. Cafe - ensure that some one has agreed to get food for the cafe and set it up and run it.
5. Welcoming people - this is soething that sometimes gets overlooked especially is setting up gets behind and there is a general sense of panic. But it is important that you ask someone to welcome people at the door. And if setting up is behind so that the service is going to start late, let people know over the microphone so that they know what is happening. At the end of the service someone should give a notice to invite people to stay for the cafe.

• mailing round of service order
Once the order of service is planned e-mail it round. You should ideally e-mail round the brainstorm notes and then the service order after meetings one and two

• checking that people are doing their tasks, have necessary help/support to deliver
usually everyone does their tasks (albeit on the day of Grace!) but if there are tasks that are more complex (e.g. making a new video piece that needs to run on a dvd loop such as we had to do for the Creation installation) these are the things to check are happening ok.

• arranging cover or alternatives if someone can't deliver
If it transpires that someone is ill, unable to be at Grace, or just too busy to do what was planned, you need to rework the order of service - this might mean finding someone else to do the task or it might be finding or getting someone else to find something to replace whatever it was.

• ensure forthcoming service is advertised
There are four usual ways we advertise services: a) e-mail the grace mailing list. It is helpful if you can write one or two sentences to send Mike that describe or intrigue people about the service. b)put the next service on the front page of the web site. Again a few sentences or something intriguing or a visual image if you have one can help in this. c) if appropriate e-mail St Mary's asking them to include it in the news letter. There is only any point in doing this if you can do it after the first planning meeting. It's too late after the second. d) enourage members of Grace to plug it to friends and in any of their avenues of communication

• oversight of setting up
On the day it is your role to have thought about how the space will be and oversee the setting up process. If there are particular items that are not always there (e.g. bread and wine and cup and plate if there is communion) you need to ensure that someone is bringing those. It is also worth checking who is around to help set up and clear up. There have been occasions when very few people are there to set up. It is always easier if you check in advance.

• collecting service material afterwards for publication on grace website and grace noticeboard
Please collect any bits and pieces from the service for the web site.

• collecting feedback about the service [from team or congregation] and reporting to team afterwards
We usually have a brief moment to reflect on the service at a meeting. You can lead that or if you prefer e-mail round for feedback.

and finally...
These notes are meant to be a guideline to ensure the bases are covered. But curation is an art we are all learning so there are probably gaps in the notes and you may have other creative ways of facilitating the process via other communication means etc. So don't let the notes hold you back. There may also be certain services (e.g. Ten) that require much more planning and a different kind of process.

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.

greater silence

next saturday at grace the greater silence. inspired by beth and laurence (thanks) this is a quiet fransiscan liturgy with plenty of silence.

easter vigil - worship trick 63

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

christ is risen

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!

grace easter vigil this saturday

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.

grace this saturday - gift part 2

it's better to receive than give - grace this saturday continues the theme of gift.

lent

lent is underway. i always like this season. there is always loads of great stuff out there in the blogosphere which i hope to unearth and link to over the next few weeks. an easy starting point is to follow my category lent if you want to see previous years' content.

this year grace are not running a lent blog. but if you want something to dip into or follow along the previous three years are here -

2006 | 2007 | 2008.
(because of the way blogs work they start at the end)

i thought i was being organised ordering maggi's book ahead of time for lent but have realised that it is clearly for next year's lent - doh! so i guess i am prepared for next year :-) however true to form mark pierson has produce a wonderful little booklet through lent with a reflection for each day so i will be following along with that. that arrived in the post as a gift so that seemed perfect (thanks mark) - if it's online somewhere let me know!

we have three extra grace evenings through lent exploring the theme of gift further - a film night watching sigur ros film heima and discussing giving gifts in the community, a storytelling night in the new inn and a discussion around giving . the dates are march 5, 19, april 2. leave a comment if you want more info...

and leave a comment if you have come across some great lent stuff online...

worship trick 57 - new year labyrinth

looking back through the blog i realise i never added anything about the new year labyrinth at grace.i was reminded of it because we had a group of students visiting from calvin college who recorded a short movie and sent me a link. anyway i thought i'd add it as a worship trick as it seemed to work well, was very low tech, and may be useful for other people...

it's all written up in the grace archive page. we used the st paul's labyrinth cloth which has inbuilt stations and the themes were:

stillness
reflect
thanks
sorrow
holy space
gift
hope
fear
presence

the backdrop on the screens playing silently (st mary's where we meet has now got three projector screens) was the movie by st etienne finisterre which is a beautiful hour of footage of a day in london.

you owe me?

lis e-mailed me about gift following the last post and included this poem which i thought was brilliant...

Even after all this time
the sun never says
to the earth,
"you owe me."
Look what happens
to a love like that,
it lights up the whole
sky.
 
- Hafiz (early 1300s, Persian, I think)

have this gift because...

have this gift because..., originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

this was part of last night's grace exploring the theme of gift. the next grace is also on the theme and we have film, storytelling and discussion evenings through lent on it as well. the service outline is (probably with a few bits to be added) here. but it sort of went like this...

the space looked great with a huge pile of gifts, an enormous cat's cradle type installation with gifts tangled in it and a table at the far end. babette's feast was silently playing on the screen, a parable for the night.

sit and talk about gifts and experiences good and bad. then take a label and write on it what the real meaning was behind a gift and tie it to the pile of gifts. this was really good - some really good meanings and some scary ones!

then on to the installation exploring the idea of gifts with ties that bind positively or negatively. find a gift and trace it to an envelope which is the tie/string attached! mine was this message above...

give your gift to someone else without the tie...

then cut the strings down (adam scissorhands?)

gather round the table and reflect on how god gives and how we respond. the response was to pour rice until overflowing into peoples hands and then they could leave some grains as a token of relationship with god. relationship not obligation... i was doing this bit and we read psalm 50 that i then rewrote/improvised for grace as follows:

Grace listen...
I have no complaint about your sacrifices -
you certainly put the creative effort in to your worship.
But I do not need your art installations, stations, movie loops, ambient tunes, apple macs, ipods
gas masks, photography, font selection, stories, good taste, creative liturgies and new technologies.
All the silicon in the valley is mine
I know all the art in the whole world
The creation is my gallery
I made imagination!
Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God
out of friendship and not obligation
That's what it's about...

then finally a blessing having reflected on gifts we have that are for giving on behalf of the community before the usual cafe which had an abundance of danes, wine and cakes!

the photos i took are in a slideset gift and there will be more no doubt in the gracelondon flickr pool.

the inspiration for the service was lewis hyde's book the gift and for me, sigur ros' film heima which we will be watching in lent.

i have made this whole thing a worship trick - it was all so good! no 56 in series 3...

journeying - grace new year labyrinth

join us at grace next saturday for a labyrinth, a great way to walk prayerfully into the new year

o little town of bethlehem - the gospel under occupation

i have visited bethlehem once in 19998. the trip i went on was amazing - hard but really good. i went with the amos trust, a small charity who punch beyond their weight standing in solidarity with the oppressed and campaigning for justice. because they are small they invest time in particular areas and relationships. palestine and israel has been one of those areas. anyway all this by way of saying amos trust are organising a trip the gospel under occupation in may next year. kester brewin and chris rose will lead the trip. and here's some info

The trip is from 22nd to 30th May.

It's just over £1000 all in from the UK, or £500 from the US/elsewhere if you book your own way to Tel Aviv.

As you know, it's an amazing opportunity for anyone of faith to 'walk where Jesus walked', as well as see some great Banksy's ;-)

Plus, on this trip in particular, we are wanting to focus on the leadership needs in the area. That could be theological leadership - getting some new thinking on the situation - or social/entrepreneurial leadership to help build capacity in the Palestinian economy.

It will be very exciting / eye opening... great opportunities to meet the 'living stones', and peace-makers from all sides right at the heart of so many world events.

i realise i never said anything about the last grace which focused on bethlehem. it included a 26 foot screen to show the actual height of the now walled city of bethlehem. and there were various segments of an amos trust video that were shown and a set of stations for prayer. one included standing in solidarity offering messages of hope to residents of the hamlets of humsa and hadidya, in the occupied palestinian territories. more details are on the Amnesty website. and dean has added a set of photos here...

grace - christmas in bethlehem - this saturday

the last few years the grace christmas service has been nine which has been a lot of fun and a good tradition - one others have picked up on and one we at proost have been inspired to join in. well grace never stays still so this year is taking a break from nine and doing something different...

so join us for christmas in bethlehem: waiting for a sign of hope this saturday. rumour has it there will be mulled wine, mince pies and carols in the cafe afterwards. this is a first for me in that it is the third grace in row that i have not in any way been involved in planning so i have no idea what is going to happen which always makes it fun. it's at 8pm at st maty's ealing. visitors always welcome.

on the subject of bethlehem and christmas kester forwarded me this letter which is pretty poignant.

clean

well following the last grace service contaminate which was utterly wonderful and crazy at the same time this saturday sees part two clean. again i have not been involved in planning it so have no idea what is involved and will be in the US so will miss it but no doubt there will be photos, movies and blogs for me to imagine what goes on?!

on the subject of the US, i hadn't quite realised that i would be flying the day after the election so that should be fun. and if you are in america you do know who to vote for ?!!!!

contamination

steve, the unofficial alt worship archivist, has taken to recording movies now and has a series from the grace contamination service

contaminated grace

grace on saturday lived up to expectations with perhaps the strangest welcome ever. it was on the theme of contamination. when you arrived you were welcomed by people in contamination suits and gas masks asking questions such 'as have you eaten any shellfish?' 'have you got any heavy metal records on you?' (the shellfish relates to a levitical purity law apparently!)

various ways of exploring purity and contamination unfolded shattering the idea that to be holy is about avoiding certain things or places. jesus' life is of course a case in point, accused for being a glutton and a drunkard for his regular transgressing of the purity code. it culminated in a curtain being opened in relation to the veil of the temple being torn as jesus became contamination for us...

it reminded me of mike riddell's wonderful chapter in threshold of the future entitled the sin of holiness, a theme we explored in grace in sept 1998!