jonnybaker

latest anvil on indigenous theologies

the latest issue of anvil journal is really wonderful - exploring the emancipation of indigenous theologies in light of the rise of world christianity (and it's free). i read it on the ferry on my phone on the way back from the netherlands last week and found i wanted to read all of it! i have so enjoyed various things related to indigenous spirituality, community, theology over the last few years - visiting maori and reading hui comes home in NZ; braiding sweet grass; first nations version of the new testament; rescuing the gospel from the cowboys by richard twiss etc... so it was a joy to be able to host some articles and conversation in the cms journal. big thanks to everyone who contributed. i also really liked the book reviews this time round - they all sound interesting. do read jay matenga's article. I thought that was particularly helpful at a time when the c of e could do well to stay in for the difficult conversations.

amos road club cycling

amos trust road club does an annual cycle ride. i have done about half a dozen over the last decade and jenny has done more. this year we joined a trip to the netherlands taking a ferry from harwich to the hook of holland riding to utrecht, dordrecht and surrounds. cycling there is flat which suits me fine! and there are cycle ways everywhere - it's a country set uo for cyclists. the uk has a long way to go in that regard. i have done more exercise in the last week or so than in any week for a long time. there are a few photos here in an amos road club netherlands 2023 album. cycling in a group is not very conducive to taking photos - you get left behind! so these are a bit random taken in gaps on the way.

the great glen canoe trip

the great glen is a fault line that runs from fort william to inverness in scotland running through three lochs and several parts of the caledonian canal. i found myself in a conversation where a friend was saying he was think of canoeing the great glen with his son (who is an outdoors instructor amongst other things). i said i would love to do that which set a ball rolling and ended up with a group of six of us in three canoes heading to scotland to canoe it. it's 60 miles or so. the photo above is from this album the great glen canoe trip  which will give you a feel for what it was like.

we wild camped each day finding spots from an os map. those sites were extraordinary. we were under a goshawk nest one night, in a shelter on an island in the middle of loch oich another, by a waterfall with a natural pool, and then suspended between trees overlooking loch ness another.

i took my aerial tent which was absolutely perfect for it. it packs small and will go anywhere. i backed it as a kickstarter some years back. we cooked off the fire each night and morning - there was plenty of wood around. 

the main challenge as you would expect was weather. we had one night oif rain but it remained dry on the whole. but the wind seemed to vary a lot. when we set out on loch ness the wind was against us and white horses were on the water so we rafted three boats together and set off for the far southern shore. that meant the boats were stable and whilst we were bailing all the way it was exhilirating. at another point when we were on a long day down loch ness we rafted boats again and made a sail from a tarp and got blown along for a few hours. 

the final day was really choppy and challenging but we made it to the end of loch ness. one boat did capsize but close to shore. i wasn't in that boat! 

jon who was the most experienced and the unspoken leader of the trip was incredible. i haven't read it but have heard people talk about the book canoeing down the mountains suggesting we need flexible adaptive leadership today and is not what (church) leaders are trained for. well i saw this in action - adapting to weather and environment, making things with whatever was to hand - tarps, straps, wood, gaffer tape, rope. it actually made me want to relearn some knots and up my bushcraft skills.

john (another john) read some reflections he had written each day - in the vein of john o donahue - that gave some reflective pauses during the trip which was lovely. they were taken from this collection on his web site. he is also a wonderful photographer and took lots of photos - his album is here. i have never done anything quite like this trip and loved it! 

 

leadership as friendship

at cms there is a library and new books are on display. one caught my eye a few weeks ago - ecclesial leadership as friendship by chloe lynch which i took home to have a look through. ever since i have been wanting to write a review and not found the time! so this isn't a review - more an enthusing.

i should say first up that it's an academic book, it's a work of practical theology that is amazingly thorough, well researched and written. it's not popular level if you know what i mean. she uses walter brueggenann's prophetic imagination (which is one of my favourite books ever and one that changed my life) as a framework for the book. this in itself is wonderful - i intuitively did something similar many years ago for an essay on my MA.

she offers a critique of leadership in the church as it is - i completely welcome that. she particularly lays into the managerial culture and language, but interestingly looks at other ways of framing leadership such as servant and suggests they fall short. incarnational mission and ministry is central for her which i love and agree with (i have returned the book by the way so can't check exactly how she puts it). she then offers leadership as friendship as a model or way of thinking through church leadership. i think it is a very original piece and i warm to the notion a lot. i read steve summer's book on friendship years ago where he explores the idea of church as a community of friends and the eucharist as a meal with friends. i loved that and it felt to me that this builds on that - she does reference steve in passing but i was surprised that link wasn't built on further. i am very drawn to ignatian spirituality and at the heart of that is the idea of friendship with god as at the heart of faith. if you put all these things together friendship becomes a really interesting way of reflecting on following in the way of christ together. 

the big question i have is to do with power. is it possible to be in a leadership role and maintain friendship? it's a good aspiration. chloe does address that but i wanted more. steve summers does explore that in more depth in his book - his angle is whether friendships can work across different social strata. 

evangelicals are in crisis i think when it comes to leadership and they are not alone - how many more cases of controlling, abusive leadership are going to come out? so it might seem weird to suggest friendship when it also feels like you can't trust people in leadership. but i think the problems are in large part to the way the cultures of churches are set up whether an overly clerical paradigm or an overly super hero paradigm where you don't question the leader (or whatever the big evangelical church leader paradigm might be). the problems too are to do with the heart being deceitful of course. but positing friendship as a paradigm for being a community opens up a different kind of culture. it's easier in a small community which to be honest i have always preferred and been part of. and it does open up some questions too.

at cms in theological education we try to create that sort of a culture with our team and with students and pioneers who have trained with us. i have wondered whether it is feasible to do but have often said i primarily like to think of students as friends who are fellow travellers in mission. this too is counter cultural to the expert or to notions of formation which seem to me to largely be about control and create almost parental kins of relationships between teachers and students.

anyway all that to say i wanted to mention and enthuse about the idea and the book and chloe lynch (who i don't know). being academic it's not a cheap book and sadly routledge are still not on perlego .

come and train at cms!

the mission training at cms is wonderful. i don't know how else to say it. working with the creative people, pioneers, dreamers, ministers who have joined us over the last dozen years has been such a joy! and i love seeing what people who have trained with us go on to do. this video of ali is one inspiring example.

it's that time of year to think about signing up for next september. if you'd like to know more about it, give me a shout or even better come to the open day we have next week. 

you can study at any level -

• audit modules or join a hub's year long programme which is not accredited
• undergraduate certificate, diploma, degree
• postgraduate certificate, diploma, MA, DTh

they all focus around mission, with imagination and creativity front and centre as we seek to reflect on how to engage meaningfully in the communities and contexts we are in.

reflective practice in mission is relevant to many things but these are the kinds of focus you could particularly explore with a mix of theology, mission and ministry -

• youth ministry
• childrens ministry
• pioneer ministry
• african christianity (now at both UG and PG levels)
• fresh expressions
• church planting
• chaplaincy 
• new housing
• social innovation
• african christianity
• helping my parish church be missional 

what a relief we are past COVID now (?!) - maybe it's a good time to engage? the plus now is that having learned from going online during COVID, you can study in person, online, hybrid so get in touch wherever you live! sorry for the short notice but there's an open day next week but there are also a couple in june. click on the links to book in or download flyers here and and here

grenfell

grenfell by steve mcqueen is a moving powerful film on at the serpentine gallery. it is a remembering of the horror of the burnt tower. the opening sequence takes around 7.5 minutes, at least by my guess, slowly moving in from afar. it's bill viola like in its slow motion. and then in silence the charred building circled multiple times before coming to rest on a still that fills the screen. that's it. a lament, a memory, a needless tragedy. there's a good review of it here by adrian searle. everyone leaves in silence pausing to read the names of those whose lives were lost. 

morning reflection

couldn't help notciing the trees reflected in my coffee this morning!

bluebells in roundwick copse

weekend hanging out in prospect wood as is our tradition on the first may bank holiday weekend. always love seeing bluebells!

resistance

i called in today with harvey kwiyani to the exhibition that is on at fulham palace on resistance. it's full title is the bishops of london, colonialism, transatlantic slavery and resistance. scroll down on the exhibition page to find info. fulham palace was the residence of the bishop of londion until 1973 which is the connection. i had not been there before. the fulham palace trust have been researching the link between the bishops of london and slavery. one of the outcomes is this inspired project which is curated/led by a poet adisa the verbaliser who worked with schools and community groups around it. the angle it takes, as well as being very informative (see for example this timeline), is to explore acts of spiritual and physical resistance that ultimately brought an end to the slave trade. do have a look at this page and click on the links on the right hand side which has loads of really interesting information and stories. it's no surprise of course to find that the research demonstrates historic involvement of the bishop of london and the church of england in colonialism and transatlantic slavery. 

the acts of resistance reminded me of the writing of michel de certeau in his book the practice of everyday life who shows how people resist strategies through what he calls tactics. 

we went on to the serpentine to see the grenfell movie by steve mcqueen but failed to do so because i hadn't thought to get tickets - doh! turns out it is full. so if you go to that book ahead. i hope to go back.

all this of course is very poignant and relevant as at cms we seek to work out what post colonial mission might be or mean or look like. harvey leads our african christianity programmes so is a good friend and colleague - it was great to hang out and talk about this stuff today.

the big one

it was great to take part in the big one, extinction rebellion's protest in london. i joined in the discussion, service and march hosted by christian climate action and then things around parliament square. here are a few photos from the day - extinction rebellion the big one

steampunk

a lot of steampunks hanging out in shrewsbury this weekend. looking mighty fine too.

the creative act: a way of being

i was given the creative act: a way of being by rick rubin for my birthday and have really loved it. it's a beautifully designed and made book of 400 pages or so. don't let that put you off as it's not linear. it's a series of 78 reflections on creativity which i think you could dive into in any order. rick rubin has taken 8 years or so to write it and it really feels like it is considered with real depth and wisdom to it.

the title tells you that he sees creativity as a posture, a way of being which has an openness to the abundance of life that comes from 'the source'. if we will pay attention and notice we will tune in to all sorts of inspiration that is happening around us all the time. he of course is a music producer so his reflections come from working with artists over many years but he is keen to say that creativity is something everyone can engage with i think of creativity as pretty spiritual so it was good to read a book that seemed to take the same start point. 

he doesn't quite spell out what he sees the stages of the creative process are but i think they distill down to exploration of ideas; through that discerning what idea to work with - he calls that the seed; then there is generative phase of developing that idea; through to completion. what i was struck by about the process is that in the first phase it is expansive, exploratory where you really need to push out as much as possible. and then when you get to developing and towards completion the opposite is the case - it becomes important to distill it down, edit and focus. this makes some of the sections seem paradoxical but it's because they belong in different phases of the process. if you are familiar with writing on creativity (i have a whole shelf of books on that!) there will be themes that are familiar but there is also lots that is original and it's beautifully crafted. 

i found it really inspiring. if you prefer a podcast to a read then malcolm gladwell talks to rick about the book on their podcast broken record

easter and empire

nomad podcast's easter special easter and empire is amazing - thank you guys! i am a big fan of ched myers. but this take on easter is so powerful and reminds why i am a follower of the way of christ. i also really loved the gauntlet he throws down at the end to listeners who deconstruct - essentially that is fine and good but reconstruct because we need new communities of hope following in this way! as an aside what a brilliant take on the original ending of mark's gospel which ends without the resurrection. 

into silence

as is my custom each year i am heading into silence for a few days to, slow down, unplug, pray, reflect.  looking forward to camping in the tipi, cooking off the fire. it's been pretty wet but hoping for a better few days! the forecast has just started looking like spring might finally arrive!

grace easter vigil

grace conveniently falls on holy saturday this year so we will be hosting an easter vigil. we’ll be beginning with the cafe open at 9:30pm and then grace will begin at 10pm mixing the traditional fire lighting, candle procession and readings with grace’s own take and flavour on proceedings. hope to see you there.

baker's dozen

between september and december i wrote thirteen posts reflecting on twenty years at cms. well cms have turned them into one long piece with edited down versions of the post if you missed them first time round

julian opie vr exhibition

if you are in london anywhere near paddington swing by the lisson gallery and see the julian opie exhibtion. the main feature is a vr headset experience of a virtual exhibtion. it's pretty well done. i am a big fan of his work - just the simplicity of it. if you've got kids and are looking for easter holiday things to do for free then i think they'll love this. btw this photo is not the vr part of the exhibition!

grace saturday - praying with a lump in our throat

continuing our grace lent we have a prayer focused evening on saturday with a series of stations praying with and for those at the edges. do join us. the title is inspired by claudio carvalhaes book that we are reading through lent.

nick cave and sean o hagan on the sacred

the sacred podcast interview with nick cave and sean o hagan is really remarkable. i have seen nick cave many times and love his music. i have been intrigued by or drawn to the spiritual quest that seems to infuse his song writing in places. seeing him and warren ellis at the royal albert hall last year was a spiritual experience which ended in prayer or a kind of blessing. he wrote an intro to marks gospel in the canongate series some years back. his letters to the community that rallies around or towards him are honest and searching pastoral letters of a sort. some have called it the church of nick cave! i have also been blown away by the films of the last few years especially one more time with feeling which is the most raw thing i think i have ever seen on grief, grief for the loss of his son arthur. 

the podcast explores the themes in the book faith hope and carnage (which i have not read but now will definitely do so) and the theme of the sacred. it is so interesting to hear nick suggest that it is easier to find the sacred in the world than in religion - the natural world, wild swimming, music and art, and so forth. i find the same to be true. but he also loves church spaces and the sense of mystery that is there. i found myself strongly resonating with the notion that christianity has diminished god with its certitude and stridentness which makes it so difficult for those reaching towards god. it's a beautiful conversation. there is a transcript on the podcast page but i do recommend listening.

breakout - a new spare room

i have had a desk either under the stairs or in our bedroom in the loft for 20 years or so. that's been great but we decided to change a spare bedrooom into a space i could have a desk in with a sofabed so it can also be a spare bedroom when we have guests. this is the result.

it's a space for creativity and ideas - the whole feel of it is playful and the lightbulb is a reminder.

it's a space for breaking out or beyond the norms - the mural is called breakout by pippo lionni copied from an old book i have of his pictograms. it's also my zoom backdrop now!

trickster coyote is tucked under the desk to remind me to be subversive.

a few pirates are knocking around to remind me to be more pirate!

yes slightly mad perhaps but also very me. thanks to jon birch who took my ideas and put a design together including colours, the suggestion for the amazing bookcase, and designed the vinyls. i am pretty pleased with my paint work on the mural which had a few moments where i wondered why on earth i thought it was a good idea but i got there in the end. and we had an amazing builder who took the ideas and built the bookcase and did everything else we wanted. fun times!

if you click on the photo above there is an album of a few photos.