jonnybaker

follow the line

follow the line, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

well i have finally uploaded all my NY photos to the set on flickr... and yes there is even evidence of an ipod dispensing machine.

this one was at MOMA where there is an exhibition on colour.

room with a view

room with a view, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

back from new york... i will be adding some photos over the next few days no doubt. i basically had one day at the end of the trip to do some sightseeing. i got to go up the rockerfeller building and see the view from top of the rock. it is stunning. i have added some photos to a new york set i have started. this one is inside (obviously) rather than from the obsevation decks and is my favourite i think. i actually thought top of the rock is even better than the visit to the top of the empire state building which i did a few years back on my first visit (though that was amazing too). the rock is less crowded so much less time to queue and has several viewing decks, the top one of which isn't fenced or protected by glass which makes for much better photos. sadly it was mid day - i didn't have the luxury of an evening view as i was going to be heading to the airport. the rockerfeller centre and the buildings around it are fantastic too - the art deco gold, marble and so on is amazing. i didn't get to take many photos inside but this is one that gives a flavour.

tinkering

i have just been at a gathering organised by trinity wall street considering young adults spirituality and religious practice. by way of preparation people attending were invited to read robert wuthnow's book after the baby boomers: how twenty and thirty-somethings are shaping the future of american religion.

one of the points that i found interesting in the book was that young adults have an extended period before getting married and having children (if they do). this means that there can often be a 10 year period of extended young adulthood. church attendance in this age group has been in decline, but the most interesting part about that is that the young adults who are attending church tend to be married with kids - church somehow is appealing to and catering for families better than single people. so this extension of young adulthood compounds the decline.

the second point and this doesn't come as a surprise is that the way young adults make meaning is by tinkering (or bricolage if you want the cultural studies term). i was invited to give a presentation on this theme... here's a couple of quotes i pulled out...

The single word that best describes young adults approach to religion and spirituality - indeed life - is tinkering. A tinkerer puts together a life from whatever skills, ideas and resources that are readily at hand... Tinkerers are the most resourceful people in any era. If specialized skills are required they have them. When they need help from experts they seek it. But they do not rely on one way of doing things. Their approach to life is practical. They get things done and usually this happens by improvising by piecing together an idea from here, a skill from there and a contact from somewhere else.

Like the farmer rummaging through the junk pile for makeshift parts the spiritual tinkerer is able to sift through a veritable scrap heap of ideas and practices from childhood, from religious organisations, classes, conversations with friends, books, magzines, television programmes and web sites. The tinkerer is free to engage in this kind of rummaging...

i'm sure most of us recognise this sort of approach to lots of areas of life. i explored this theme a bit when i was doing my MA drawing inspiration from de certeau's ideas of making do and developing a set of tactics to negotiate the practice of everyday life. wuthnow adds that life's uncertainty these days makes tinkering a necessity as we constantly face scenarios that require creative improvising. further, the electric information environment has meant we can access and draw on the resources from diverse sources, traditions, networks and institutions without relying on experts and freed from institutional constraints.

so the 48 hour gathering was a reflection on this and what it implies or what questions it raises, in this case, for episcopalians.

a few of the questions i raised were:

can we view religion as a cultural resource? (david lyon raises this question in his book jesus in disneyland) i.e. are we prepared to take the risk of putting the insights, treasures, liturgies, theologies etc out there for people to weave into their lives as they tinker? and how might we go about this?

what skills do people need to be able to tinker? and related to this do people need some spiritual capital or theological capital to tinker? this is a challenging area. i think the answer is yes but often people don't have a lot - they think google is enough! a parallel could be drawn here with improvisation in music which will be much richer and more creative if the person knows the traditions and has done the work in terms of learning their craft - that will free them up. the same is true for spirituality - those that know the tradition, the scriptures, the theological takes, spiritual practices, liturgies, other improvisations that have been made etc will have much more to draw on. the problem for churches is that their tradiitions often feel like they are heavily policed, something to be protected rather than something to be creatively opened up, made open source and tinkered with.

if there is this extended period of young adulthood where there are little support structures in place (young adults see friends as key in terms of navigating life's choices ) could mentoring or being a soul friend help? is this an area where the church could make a creative contribution?

and lastly how can we encourage communities of tinkerers? i have found being a part of a community like grace amazing in terms of friendship, support, faith development and creative spirituality. it's located in the church but with space to explore and tinker (not that we have ever used that term!).

i talked about tinkering with worship, sharing stories from alternative worship;
tinkering with church - emerging church, fresh expressions and all that and the way that a set of permissions has been created in the church of england so that can happen within the life of the church;
and tinkering in mission - stories of mission in the emerging culture

it was a good time, as ever at these things the best conversations happen in the gaps. i hope the guys there will be enabled to do the imaginative work and negotiate space for creative ways to explore this further. it was at trinity's retreat centre which is in conneticut in an amazing setting, with the most incredible food. i now have 24 hours in new york before my flight...

improv - frozen grand central

a friend jono sent me a link to this piece of improvisation/art performance/mischief making at grand central station. it's wonderful - creating a pause/rupture in the everyday rush.

looks like there are plenty of other wacky stunts to explore - i like the subway series

[turns out the same freeze has happened in trafalgar square]

rising from the ashes - nudging the conversation about emerging church onto the mainline

rising from the ashes: rethinking church is a book by becky garrison exploring what it means to be church in the emerging/postmodern context we now find ourselves in. the content is collated from interviews with about 30 people and these interview segments are cut in to form thematic chapters. i am one of the interviewees - it was nice to be asked though it's kind of weird seeing an e-mail exchange on the pages of a book. it was good to meet becky at greenbelt this year too.

this is the crunch: for a number of reasons the conversation about emerging church has begun in the US out of the evangelical world, probably because it was birthed out of young leaders network which was a mix of vineyard and baptist guys as i understand it. the church in the USA seems quite polarised for a number of reasons which other people would be better placed to comment on than me. so when conversation gets located in one place it is sometimes hard to nudge it into another part of the church. this it seems is becky's agenda - to nudge it into mainline circles. she is excited about the challenge of re-imagining church but wants to see that sparking the imagination of episcopal and other mainline churches. this is a great quest and i wish her and others with the same heart all the best as they make that journey. when i reviewed emergent manifesto i saw this trajectory as a positive move. brian maclaren has also worked really hard to help do this i think with his generous orthodoxy amongst other things. adam cleaveland has encouraged presbymergent, karen ward has encouraged anglimergent so it really feels as if things are positively moving. i blogged before about the grace and generosity of god who is often surprising us in terms of where he/she is at work. alan roxburgh shares my concern that the emerging church doesn't rubbish the denomination or local churches because they contain within them the seeds of renewal that can be watered by the spirit to bring new life and of course we need pioneers planting new churches as well.

becky has been inspired by the uk and she is not the first. i think the reason for this is multiple but the c of e and methodist churches report mission shaped church being an official report has meant there has been a culture of permission for newness in places within the structures of denominational churches. fresh expressions, emerging church, alternative worship and other things have found space to breathe in and around the edges of the  structures (not exclusively which is also good). and dare i say the likes of cms, an anglicanish mission agency, church army and others has also helped. (things probably look better from across the atlantic too as it can be pretty frustrating here at times!) 

so...

if you are in a mainline church in the usa get the book and pass it around. if you are on in the emergent village encourage your fellow travellers as they try and work it out in the denominational context. the style of the book may not be to everyone's taste, though emerging churches by ryan bolger and eddie gibbs and spencer burke's book a few years back took a similar approach. i actually found it pretty interesting. phyllis tickle is one of the people interviewed and she sounds very hopeful about the possibilities. cheryl lawrie and karen ward have extended pieces in there, both of which are really good. nadia bolz weber, kester, pete rollins, shaine clairbourne are also interviewed.

one person i don't know, martha grace reese, is asked what concerns she has about the emerging church to which she responds that she thinks some of it is high octane and may be in danger of splitting off and doing its own thing with teh sort of attitude that says "i get some hot idea and then i want to split off from these old idiots who don't get it".  the worst that could happen for the denominations is to see the emergent church go off to its own planet and the worst for emergent would be to cut itself off . she concludes saying "we need each other". i think that's a wise comment and hope it is possible in the usa...

tony jones is also interviewed. tony is a friend and one of the key people in emergent. so it pains me to say this but a couple of his answers made me wince. i have since noticed i am not alone in this. in complete contrast to martha he talks about rolling up your sleeves to overthrow organisational structures. in a book aimed at mainliners this just comes across with so much the wrong tack or tone. i just don't get why you would say that when you are the ambassador for emergent - take off the boxing gloves! tony has a new book out the new christians which i haven't seen yet but must lay things out and his vision much more comrehensively and in a different tone. some of his other writing celebrates and draws on the practices of the tradition (soul shaper and the sacred way) so that's why i was surpised. i guess it's just the nature of e-mail interviews?... anyway i hope martha's approach wins the day.

my favourite line in the book is from someone else i don't know , rick fabian, who says "tradition is a storehouse for participation"  - like that a lot and will use it myself i think...

i noticed andrew jones review here that may also be of interest.

ian mobsby touring the usa

ian mobsby from moot is off on a tour in the usa next week. ian has planted moot from scratch and is an inspiring and reflective person. his recent book explores several emerging church communities in depth to draw out their characteristics and to explore how they do or don't connect with anglican identity and ecclesiology. so if you are in

clarion, pa
pittsburgh, pa
new york
san fransisco
denver
pasadena
santa monica
portland
seattle

go and say hi! the topics range from starting a new expression of church, exploring the trinity, ancient future worshsip, postmodern culture and mission...

details are on ian's tour blog. have fun ian!

emergent manifesto of hope

emergent manifesto of hope is the first in a new publishing line from bakerbooks. edited by tony jones and doug pagitt in consists of 24 chapters of around 3000 words by different authors from north america. these chapters are by some people who have been around the emergent scene in the us for a long time (brian maclaren, mark scandrette, doug, tony, dan kimball etc) and some people who are newer voices in the conversation. brian maclaren suggests that the book will work for 4 groups of people - participants in the conversation already, people looking for an intro to the conversation, critics looking for ammunition, and those round the world interested in seeing what's going on in the us corner of the emerging church. that's a pretty fair summary i think.

the strength of the book is the range of issues touched upon and the diversity of people engaging in the conversation. it will be surprising if there isn't a chapter on something you are interested in. my favourite chapter is by sally morgenthaler - i think it's a stunning piece on flattened leadership. sally has been an inspiration for years so it's great to bump into her work again. i may like it because i seem to have read a very similar selection of books and share similar concerns about leadership. she very poignantly isues a challenge to patriarchal hierarchical leadership structures pointing out that they are as alive and well in twenty and thirty something church circles as they are in the older ones. she suggests that the changing world we live in presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges becuase the rules of engagement have changed and for a  number of reasons women's instincts and approach sits well in the emerging culture. i also really liked the challenge about diversity presented by samir selmanovic in the chapter 'the sweet problem of inclusiveness' and anthony smith in 'practicing pentecost' - this is a challenge that seems to be faced by the emerging church everywhere. we have got a long way to go in the uk.

my impression from across the pond is that when emergent grew out of a network of young leaders in the us it was located in baptist/vineyard/evangelical circles - those were naturally the friendships that existed. so it's good to see the conversation moving beyond the original edges - and being picked up in mainline denominations (with chapters discussing the need for loyal radicals in the presbyterian church for example) and across the church spectrum in the us. i hope this continues and hope this book nudges it in that direction. it's a time for maturity and generosity.

the weakness of the book is that it's spread thin. the chapters are short and whilst the book is woven together in sections the chapters don't really join up much - i didn't find it cohered. they are stand alone essays. so you get a taster which is what makes it a great intro if you are not new to the conversation. but if you have been around a while i suspect you'll skim a lot of familiar territory. i realise i'm stating the obvious and this is the first in a new line of books so i'm sure the depth is yet to come - kester's book is next up which i am delighted is gettign a us release. the title is also a misnomer - it really isn't a manifesto, at least i can't work out how it is though it is hopeful. and of course this is a collection of us voices - so many of the contextual issues play out very differently in the uk or eslewhere in the world.

overall well worth getting, and finding the chapters that connect with where you are at. you've got to admire the way the emergent crew remain on focused on getting this conversation out in the public domain through publishing. i have several friends i have got to know over the years who have conributed to the book, so it's great to see them  getting published, especially those for whom this is their first step into print...

progressive mission

it's my last morning in lancaster before heading off to canada to visit friends in paris, ontario and toronto...

the sessions seem to have gone fairly well. it's been my usual mix of teaching about mission, culture change, emerging church and alternative worship. what's been new for me is doing that in a seminary that identifies itself as progressive. i've not come across the term in the same way in the uk. it seems that no matter what your tradition or theological leanings, everyone is facing the challenge of what it means to be church in the emerging culture and what mission looks like. i have met leaders looking to transition existing churches, people starting new alternative worship stuff, people involved in missional communities and house churches and so on. if you are stopping by the blog for the first time hi!

i have been kindly hosted by bruce epperly whose area of interest is progressive spirituality and has written several books on the subject. i've got a couple to read on the way back... 

travels

heading off to lancaster, pennsylvania today to do some stuff at the seminary (scroll down page). if you are anywhere nearby everything is open to the public.

thurs
faithful improvisation: worship and mission in postmodern times
worship 2.0
fri
adventures in alternative worship
sat
youth event - faithful improvisation

then i am stopping off in toronto on the way back to visit friends in paris, ontario and toronto...

one bank

bob carlton links to the scariest video i have watched in some time. two employees of the bank of america performing a rewrite of U2's one with immortal lines such as 'we'll make lots of money... one bank'...