we have added three movies to proost for may. they are all movie loops
flames flickering
eagle in flight
and incense smoke rising
you can preview them in the movie player on proost. my personal favourite of these is the smoke movie created by mark waddington which we have used loads of times over the years at grace.
wallpaper for the soul...
becky garrison has kindly written an article on proost for the emergent village blog. if you are thinking of subscribing there's a code there to get ten percent off...
this month's new proost content is an album harronell. 15 tracks by laurence keith from sheffield make up a beautiful, soulful and emotional debut with guitar and piano often used to minimal effect creating a sense of space. if you want musical references i was thinking blue nile or album leaf. go and have a listen in the media player. if you want to dive in try the track archangel which i absolutely love or graves. you can listen to the whole of archangel at laurence's myspace page
you may remember we ran a project unusual suspects when we relaunched last august with three talented and as yet unpublished artists. well the project continues and laurence is the first unusual suspect of 2008. we have lifted the age limit on it as we have met several people a little above the 25 age we had set who are creating wonderful stuff.
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.
i have put together a movie with jon birch to go with our track space and time. it's a pretty simple idea - photos of empty seats, chairs and benches to invite the viewer to sit in god's presence and take some space. we made it thinking about lent being a time to focus on prayer. i also thought it would go well as part of my exhibit but having put it next to the photo have decided the photo is more powerful on its own.
jenny is doing a national series of training days for urban saints on contemplative prayer. and so we've recorded three tracks of her leading prayer/meditation exercises - an ignatian examen, a stilling exercise and a breathing prayer. these go to make up the contemplative prayer EP.
these are this month's proost releases and ideal for lent. you can watch and/or listen to samples in the media player. check the list of ideas on the front page of proost for other ideas.
am off to norway tomorrow for the first time for a couple of days to do some youth ministry training. looking forward to it...
i just had a delivery yesterday of '40' the book. many of you will know si smith's wonderful illustrations of jesus journey into the wilderness. i have used them a load of times in worship. they are fantastic for all ages and perfect for lent. if you haven't seen it the movie is available on proost.
well chris goan wrote a script to go with them and contacted si and to cut a long story short have turned 40 into a book - on one side of the page is one of si's illustrations, and on the other is chris's reflection. rather than using lulu which we have done for the pocket liturgies we have done a small print run ourselves. it's available as a download on proost for free if you are a subscriber but it's the kind of book you will probably want in print. so you can order them through proost as well and it's only £7.
this was part of our january release on proost.
the other new january item is laudamus, an album from karen ward's church of the apostles in seattle. this follows a service of morning prayer and evening prayer. cota have led worship at greenbelt and people have really enjoyed what they have done.
i put a list on the front page of the proost web site of resources that we have that are particularly suitable for lent so you might want to have a look at that as well...
in february 1998 i visited palestine/israel. what i saw and heard shocked me and when i returned i recorded an angry sad album backbone telling the stories of those encounters. backbone is still one of the albums i am most proud of (and has sold the least copies!!!!).
anyway adam cleaveland sent me a link to a video he made using the track 'home' which he has put on youtube here with photos and video footage from his visit in 2005.
the track is sung in two halves. the first is sung by me as a zionist jew returning to the promised land, seeing the palestinians as the equivalemnt to the canaanites to be driven out in the name of god. the second half is sung by jon as muhanna arab, a palestinian i met who had seen his house and land destroyed and then lived in a beaten up caravan which was regularly stoned by the settlers. he also sings of ibrahim who we met - i have a stone from his house that had been bulldozed by israeli soldiers after spending 5 years building it. he asked us to take a stone to remember and tell the story. the chorus is 'there's no place like home'.
sadly it seems very little has changed in nearly 10 years. this video brought it all back to me...
this month's proost release sees one advent movie and one christmas movie
wait was originally created for vaux by kester. it last 12 minutes and embodies the advent theme of waiting with 6 minutes of the word wait and people standing on train platforms before moving to a reflection of words fading in and out. it really is beautiful... it originally had the sigur ros track svefn g englar from the album agaetis byrjun underneath it. we don't have the copyright/permission so you'll need to download or buy it yourself or use something similar.
and silent night is a new animation from jon birch that sees people journeying to visit jesus christ. perfect for all ages...
they are both in the movies section of the site and can be previewed in the player.
we add new content to proost every month.
this month's new content is molten meditation. robin vincent has been at greenbelt the last two years leading his unique approach to meditation. he describes it like this...
Finding a time and place to meditate and reflect on God's word can be a struggle. So many distractions, so many interruptions, if you do find a moment of quiet all you can hear is the chatter of your own mind trying to contain the day. Molten Meditation wants to help. The music is designed to fill your head, to blow away all the cares and thoughts of the day, and allow you to be immersed in the sound.
Each meditation is between 10 and 15 minutes long during which the world is pushed away and replaced with soothing and uplifting music. The words of scripture are introduced softly within the music, making them easy to absorb and yet leaves plenty of space for your own worship.
This is not background music, this is purposeful, participatory meditation. It's not designed to empty your head, reaching for nothingness, rather this is the thoughtful praying and meditation on the Bible to facilitate an encounter with the living God. We're not looking to be emptied, we're looking to be filled.
we have his album which consists of 5 meditations and two movies accompanying two of the tracks.
so have a look at proost and you can watch samples of the movies and listen to samples of the tracks in the media player. and of course you can buy them... i have said this before and will keep saying it, if you like our stuff then the best value is to subscribe. it gives you access to our back catalogue whenever you like to download stuff and will give you new content every month for a year - all that for just £60...!
following the relaunch of proost we will be adding new content to the site every month. [subscribers will be able to access this in the download section of the web site]
september's release is transmission, a new album from new york's isaac everett. isaac is one of proost's unusual suspects. you can download the whole album, individual tracks, or get it in the download section if you are a subscriber.
Roger Von Oech: A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative
Tom Sine: The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time
Andrew Mawson: The Social Entrepreneur: Making Communities Work
Michael Freeman: The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
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