jonnybaker

language and god

maggi dawn has written a really good piece exploring inclusive and expansive language in liturgy. being inclusive of course sounds a great idea (and is) but maggi suggests that the practice of it can lead at times to other issues and even other exclusions. she suggests expansive language might be a better way to explore...

Rather than make our capacity for naming God smaller, then, perhaps it would be better to explore the breadth of the ways God has been named; to reflect on the refusal to articulate any name for God as a way of acknowledging holiness and mystery. We might rediscover, from the scriptures, and from two thousand years of Christian theology, some of the many names of God: helper, Lord, servant and friend; compassionate father, a mother who breastfeeds her children and who knits for them, a tigress, a mother hen, a shepherd, a rock and a tower, a shield and a defence, a landowner, a housekeeper, a baker of bread, a mighty ruler and a powerless infant, the light that lightens the world, and the darkness that is above all light; the God who is both love and wisdom, and at the same time the God whose name, however close we try to get to it, will always elude us.

we had a grace service a couple of years back where we explored some similar ideas - follow the links to see some of the prayers we produced taking this approach.

planetary mass

it's been a long time since i heard it but mike morrell has been musing on the nine o clock service's planetary mass here and he links to an mp3 of the planetary mass which if you haven't heard is quite brilliant... 

so what are you doing for holy week?

holy week is the run up to easter. this year i am going to be using tim watson's book crucify this jesus which has liturgies and poems for everyday of the week starting with palm sunday and finishing with easter sunday. i don't know yet who i will read them with. some alone and some with family round the meal table and some with friends? there are at least two (maundy thursday and easter sunday) that make most sense round the table with bread and wine. you can download it from proost or order a physical copy through lulu.com

 

explorations - stream of consciousness

this months release on proost is explorations by ned lunn. it's a poem/prayer in the pocket size book format. ned is part of the rough edge collective in durham who did the beat eucharist if you came across that on proost or at greenbelt. so this is very much in the same genre of the beat poets. as ever it's available as a pdf or physical book. if you are outsude the uk you can order it from lulu. In the contemplative tradition there are two schools of though about prayer or two paths of spirituality. one - the via negativa - is that in the presence of god what can be said - words cannot begin to express so best say nothing or very little. the via positiva is equally in awe in god's presence but responds with an abundance, an overflow of speech. so the stream of consciousness is very much in that latter tradition. ned says why it suits him

In any sentence I want to reference or expand on individual aspects of one concept or idea and everything soon becomes interconnected. The stream of consciousness style of writing helps me to journey along the many trains of thought, to detour and find my way around the network of my inner life. It makes the act of writing a process of discovery and, in reading it, you’re invited to journey with me and, as much as we can in the static product, we discover together.

and...

The overuse of vocabulary captures, I hope, the beautiful tension between reverent silence and the drive to speak constantly about the wonder and amazement aware at all times of the limitation of our own language.

it's devotional, and quite unique.

send us - worship trick 12 series 4

karlie, a friend and student on the cms pioneer course, writes lovely poetry and liturgy. here's a piece that she wrote as part of a recent portfolio (the way assessments are done)

Jesus Christ Son of God

Sent to us
As love radiantly visible

Sent to us
Who forget and lose sight
And become so lost

Make us like you
Make beauty of us
Born of hope, faith and love

and then send us

Send us where it is hardest to love
Because there is so much to hate

Send us where the lies deafen
And truth is only a whisper

Send us where the ugly blinds
And beauty is used and discarded

Send us where the pain is deepest
And hope is nearly gone

Send us to love where love is dead
And resurrection is our only hope

When we are afraid
When we are rejected
When we are weak
When we are hurting
When we are like you

Send us
To where you already are

i'm making this worship trick 12 series 4

if you like your music experimental and electronic

it was a sad day when mary anne-hobbs show stopped on radio one but i tuned in to xfm in the car the other day and there she was... turns out she has her own show and a new one starting with a bundle of guest mixes online...

just back from greenbelt which everyone seemed to think was a great festival - congrats to jenny and team! i hardly got to a single thing -  was either talking to friends or talking with people interested in cms pioneer training . for peple who attended the two grace services most of the liturgy pieces from yearn are here (the adult version which was made more family friendly) and we can add the confession, and the pieces from love thy 6 billion neighbours are here.

 

anvil journal now online and free - article on curating worship

anvil is a journal that i confess i haven't known a lot about until recently. i do remember seeing an article on alpha and mcdonaldisation many years ago by pete ward that caused a bit of a stir but that was about the extent of my knowledge. it's an anglican evangelical journal reflecting on theology and mission. it's been through a process of rethinking what it is about and how best to circulate its themes and ideas. cms have got involved in the mix with it and hopefully that will help keep it focused in the direction of mission. the decision has been taken that it will now go online and be available free and it will be published in print via lulu - all smart thinking in my view

the theme of the first online issue is fresh expressions of church and reflecting on that seven years on from its beginnings. i have an article in it that is a paper that i presented at a research conference in durham last september. in the paper i step back from the interviews in curating worship and reflect on ten themes that shine through. i found it quite a helpful article to write. see what you think.

god's box

at a team meeting today someone read this piece from jane upcurch's inner wellies

god's box

when
the box that i've built
to define the things of god
breaks
it feels like
i've lost god

but i haven't lost god

just the box

church as a community of friends and communion as a meal with friends

earlier this year i got to meet steve summers who teaches theology in guildford. his phd thesis explored friendship and its implications for the church in postmodernity. it's been published by an academic publisher so is very expensive but i borrowed a copy from him and got the cms library to get one if you want to borrow it. as well as a look at the history and theology of friendship steve suggests two simple ideas - that church could be conceived of as a community of friends and communion as a a meal with friends. disarmingly simple eh?! but i have found these quite compelling ideas.

through lent grace have been having a series of meals in peoples homes, reading through a book and discussing a chapter each week and sharing bread and wine in the context of a meal to remember christ. it's been really quite brilliant. tonight is the last one in the series. the one i led several weeks ago i based around this idea and say a bit more about it here. i have been meaning to blog about it for a while but today seemed fitting as the church traditionally remembers jesus last supper with friends on this day (though not sure why it's called the last supper as he did have at least another one in emmaus!?).

i am starting a series 4 of worship tricks and this will be the first.

if you want to read a review of the book there was one in practical theology journal here. here's a quote

It is the role he claims for the church, though, that makes this book so worthwhile. Summers presents the possibility of a hospitable church as a means of healing a wounded society through friendship which offers a profoundly counter-cultural opportunity as a social good. He examines hospitality by engaging with Derrida as a conversation partner, liking Derrida’s openness and refusal to reach resolution, which Summers believes to accord with the open Kingdom of God which is never to be apprehended, and which is found in the dynamic of Eucharistic table fellowship, in which the God who welcomes all, shares and is shared

a co-missioning prayer - worship trick series 3 is now complete...

this is from mark berry...

Co:missioning prayer
In the name of the divine and mysterious Trinity,
You have called us into being through love.
You have joined us to one another in love.
You have placed us in your world to love.

Grant each one of us the strength
To carry your blessing from this place to the next.
May we be at home in any land and in any place in between, for all the cosmos is yours.
May we, with our hopes set on your shalom in the world, live also as aliens in all lands.

May the rhythms of your creation be the heartbeat which sustains our very life. 
May the lamp of your word guide our feet on the unsure paths of each day.
May your breathing be the winds which lead us across strange new oceans.

Our lives are but a breath,
But our breaths are drawn, from your divine Spirit.
You have created us, peregrinate,
traveling paradoxes, holy wanderers.
Specs of dust and divine-image bearers.
Shadows of your creativity,
and crucibles of the spark of innovation.
We are constantly restless until we rest in you.

Grant each one of us and our community a deeper fullness of being and spirit,
May our faces be fuller in glory and joy,
Now bearing new shape, as our faces transform and supplement one another.
May that transformation bring peace, joy and love in the world in which you have placed us.

Go in the name of the Spirit who moves across the surface the waters,
and in the beating of the human heart, 
Go in the name of Jesus, the God-Man who died, rose and lives on for us,
Go in the name of the Creator and re-Creator, the mother of grace.
Amen

i have slacked off worship tricks of late but want to keep them ticking along so this is no 100 series 3. that makes 3 series complete - it's only taken me nine years! i looked back to see when i started and realise that i actually started blogging nine years ago yesterday (scroll down the page for the first post). who would have thought?! happy blog birthday to me :-)

here are the links to the series 1 | 2 | 3 which you can always get to following the links ion the right hand side bar...

common prayer

i get sent books from publishers. sometimes they ask if i'm interested but more often they just arrive - addressed to jonnybaker blog! i never promise to review them though in many ways i wish i had more time as i think books are wonderful and do like to comment on things (unless i really don't like them and then i can't see the point of a review that is totally negative). well this week a book arrived that i had not caught whim of but was a real surprise - common prayer. no - i am not talking about the one that was out in 1662 but a brand new fat hardback that has come out of the new monasticism movement in the US - authored by jonathan wilson hartgrove, shane claiborne, and enuma okoro. it's delightful - laying out liturgies and readings for communities or families (or an individual though it's clearly a book for communal prayer) in the morning, midday and evening along with some songs and occasional prayers and reflections.

something's going on! the tradition is being opened up and re-discovered for a new generation in a very different way. you get the impression that for some this whole approach is very new with explanations of what liturgy is, the church year and so in the introduction. if you have grown up in a setting where this sort of stuff is normal i suspect it will be easy to dismiss this. but you shouldn't - this is genuinely exciting. i think some who love tradition will be shocked that this is out published by zondervan, and the relaxed tone of the intro with words like cool in the mix - it's not exactly a heavyweight religious community feel. but i like that - let's relax and open up the gifts of the tradition in ways that are accessible. many of those making the rediscoveries of liturgy and so on are from the evangelical end of the church where their worship has been dominated by worship bands, preaching and ministry. i think this affords a different kind of depth, reportoire and rhythm in worship.

if you want a flavour of it there is a web site which i assume will become a portal and hub that can grow this resourcing of a movement.

we're going to see more resources like this. i have come across several groups who have created rhythms for their communities and liturgies and a rhythm of prayer and so on. cms, the mission community i belong to, are working on a year book of prayer. it's part of a shift to understand church as being about a life that is lived and fuelled through a rhythm of prayer as opposed to simply being about a once a week gathering. it's also about a maturing recognition that to be a community in the church is to be connected historically and globally into the body of christ and to unite with that rather than ignore it.

it's also a massive piece of work to do something like this. as i say a nice surprise. i have yet to try using the prayers in a communal setting...

breathe in - fill yourself with god

christine sine writes some simple and lovey prayers and liturgies. this prayer is as simple as they come but perhaps all the better for that simplicity. i really like using breath as a means for prayer. i don't exactly remember the reference but there is a really good reflection on one of rob bell's videos where he suggests that for jews the name of god is like the sound of breathing - yahweh without the vowels pronounced and that in the very act of breathign the neame of god is on our lips. christine suggests some passges that came to mind when she was reflecting on this prayer

Breathe out empty yourself: of hate, of fear, of anxiety
Breathe in fill yourself with love, with life, with mercy
Breathe out empty yourself of busyness, of selfishness of greed
Breathe in fill yourself with peace, with joy, with hope
Breathe out empty yourself of idolatry, of self worship, of false gods
Breathe in fill yourself with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit

as is her tradition she has also composed an advent video focussing on christ's coming not so much as a baby but as a bringer of justice.

maps

We leave today
going into a future
as yet unmapped
take faith with you as you go;
into the parts of your life not yet travelled by love
into the parts of the world unexplored by grace.
Let compassion and hope be the roads that you follow
today and always
amen.

this is from cheryl lawrie's write up of their latest installation space maps which sounds wonderful as ever. maps are a great metaphor i think. one of the challenges of maps is that they plot the known world in particular ways. sometimes you've got to sail off the edges of the known world or draw a new map because the world has changed...

maps is worship trick 96 in series 3

the road rarely ends...

the road rarely ends - a lovely piece by cheryl

visions pocket liturgies

it's three years now since we relaunched proost at greenbelt 2007 diversifying content and artists involved. i can't quite believe that we've managed to put out new content every month bar one (where we had a computer theft) since then. proost now has 13 books in the pocket size, around 60 movies or movie loops, maybe 30 albums or mini albums and a few other bits and pieces. thanks to anyone who has been part of the journey so far enjoying, creating, sharing, using, or creatively remixing content. subscribing which gives you access to all the content is so much better a deal now than when we re-launched!

this month we have a new addition to the pocket liturgies series from visions in york put together by sue wallace. it's available as a physical book (and will be in the greenbelt shop if you are there) or as a download.

here's a prayer from it called generous god to give you a flavour and that sums up our thanks...

Beloved God
You have done so much for us.
Yet sometimes we feel
We have very little to give You back.
Snatches of our time,
Our money and talents,
Yet we own nothing
That wasn’t already given us by You.

And yet God, we know
That when we give the little we have to You
You multiply it!
You take the tap-water
Of our songs, our prayers
Our love and our worship,
And change it into vintage wine.
 
You multiply everything we give to You
And turn something small into
something amazing.
Thank You!
For all You give us
For all You inspire us to give You,
For Your multiplying miracles
Thanks.

road psalm - worship trick 94

iain cotton is cycling from london to paris to raise money for the amos trust. as part of his preparation he wrote road psalm which is delightful...

You O Lord are Lord of the road.

You have opened out the landscape like a map.
The contours of the earth and the twists and turns of the road
are not hidden from your sight.
The highways and the lanes are your servants,
you know all their ways.
The climbs and the descents are yours,
the rolling hills and short sharp climbs,
switch-backs and fast descents,
wild mountain passes and sheltered valleys.

The winds are your servants.
The headwind and the crosswind to make me work,
the tailwind for the big ring.
The summer sun warms my legs and
The summer rain cools my back.

You O Lord are Lord of the road.

Sometimes I ride my own way,
believing I am stronger than I am,
but you are always on my wheel.
Waiting,
for me to blow.
You are beside me now,
we ride together and laugh and talk.
You push the pace, half a wheel ahead, you make me work.
You ease off when I am tired
and wait when I bonk up.
You will never drop me.

You are a mystery in the peleton.
You wear the Yellow Jersey, yet serve like a domestique,
fetching and carrying water and provisions for the team.
When a rider crashes out you fall back and pace him to the bunch,
even a rider from a competing team!
Grace and mercy are you lead-out team
I am happy to ride in the glory of your presence.

You O Lord are Lord of the road.

Your spirit is the carnival of light and colour as the peleton zooms past,
a shimmering glittering dance of polished alloy and
cross-hatched carbon,
a whirr of super-charged energy.
Your spirit is with us
closer than the rider and the bike.
Take your spirit away and there is no race.
In you we ride and have our being.

You O Lord are Lord of the road.

i'm making it worship trick 94, in series 3

community liturgy

ian adams has added another to the list of ways into small missional communties - community liturgy. i keep an updated list of the links here...

mission as the liturgy after the liturgy

this weekend we had a gathering of some people involved in various communities/ emerging churches/ alt worship [choose your language!]. it was a lot of fun and great seeing people. there is so much benefit in sharing stories and conversations with others on a similar sort of journey. i'm a great believer in the value of this kind of networking.

we were staying at the youth hostel in ironbridge near telford and mark berry led a communion for us on the last morning on the notion of the liturgy after the liturgy which is mission. the idea is that the liturgy, communion, worship as encountering the presence of the risen christ fuels and leads to being sent out in mission - the liturgy after the liturgy. mission is a natural consequence. mark has written up some prayers and liturgy their community shared in on his blog which i am making worship trick 91 in series 3.

my experience of liturgy is mixed as i am sure it is all of us. sometimes i experience it in this way in a sending out into the world in mission. but often it seems much more introverted and focused in on itself as though the church is living for the experience of the worship itself rather than being sent out. one of the things i have really enjoyed following mark's community's journey is that they are very missional but the liturgies and meal they share really do serve this purpose. it's a wonderful gift that mark has.

For God so loved the world - may we naturally follow suit,
That he gave his only son - may we learn the wonder of sacrifice,
That all who believe - may our love for one another be the crucial evidence,
May not perish - may we work to halt the collapse of lives, of communities and of creation,
But have eternal life - may we point to the hope you bring now and for the future.

everyday liturgy

8 ideas for developing creative worship is a piece on everyday liturgy by tim snyder who came and hung out at our place on his travels back in january...

i like the piece, i like the site and it reminded me of the value of going on pilgrimage to visit other communities. 

language makes the world - worship trick 90

grace on saturday night ( yes i decided to go and watch the football later...) was really good with lots of stuff to chew over for months to come i suspect. we've been having a few discussions on the language we use in grace and how it can be used to include or exclude often unwittingly. speaking of god was the first service where this has been picked up. jenny has written the service up in the grace archive, with links to prayers, confession and so on...

overall the service was an invitation to take the risk of breaking out of ways that language might restrict or tie us in to familar ways of speaking and doing things and to find more expansive language. people were invited to park words - these were put on the spines of books - the yellow words are words that people parked. then later on invited to explore language with new ideas and words that were more expansive - these are the other colours on the book spines. people then composed and read out prayers with words that had caught their imagination. these will be added to the page gradually i am sure. the two i wrote were quantam and jesus is not lord!

i am making speaking of god worship trick 90, series 3

language makes the world so paying attention to language is to do nothing less than attempt to remake the world so it could be a long journey that we are embarking on...

[photo: dean ayres]