jonnybaker

in praise of shadows

en route to the football today we called in to an exhibition at the serpentine. it's called in praise of shadows and is meditative photography by japanese-born hiroshi sugimoto. restful, peaceful stuff... and we loved the bookshop!!!! almost as good as the tate's. there are some wonderful (decent sized) pics here

chelsea top of premiership!

it's been a good week! not only did i manage to get tickets to radiohead but today in honour of tlb's birthday i got tickets for chelsea v man united. it was set up nicely by arsenal only managing a draw earlier in the afternoon. chelsea won 1-0 and are now top of the premiership (hopefully to stay!) - bbc report here...

buy nothing day

today is buy nothing day! go celebrate....

are you such a dreamer?

radiohead were stunning... so many magical moments and even though i can't fathom the depths (or surface) of what half their songs are about the mood catches and washes over me, one minute uplifting the next lamenting the state we're in. lines keep shining through the cracks and stick in my head

i don't know why i feel so tongue tied | are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights? | the raindrops the raindrops... | you're so special | god loves his children | we're rotten fruit we're damaged goods what the hell we got nothing more to lose we're backdrifters | bring down the government they don't speak for us | everything in it's right place | breathe | i'm on a roll

thank god for artists, thank god for music, thank god for radiohead, thank god i was there...

p.s. this is a later addition to this post but i went with steve and some others from grace. steve has written words that are poetic and capture something of what i felt but only realised after reading what he wrote (does that make any sense). anyway go read at smallritual

christmas present idea?!

was at a meeting today where someone produced the brick testament holy trinity! the holy ghost even glows in the dark... i checked out the merchandise on the site and sadly it seems pretty overpriced... there is also a book of scenes which is a bit more reasonable. the pics are snapped with my phone hence the distinctly less than average quality!

Top 10 Dangers of Living in the Blog Space - this is worrying!!!!

fun stuff

anyone bored in the office needing a distraction go here | here | here

radiohead at earls court

i'm all excited!!!! off to see radiohead at earls court tonight...

the guardian review of a concert earlier this week gave them a 5 star rating and concluded by saying

On record, Radiohead's wayward electronic experimentation can leave the listener feeling shut out and unwanted. Hearing it played live is a revelation. The digital beeps and blips acquire the force of hammer blows, while the electric piano chords sound as if they were being beamed in from another galaxy.

But of course, the band's trump card is their abundance of classic, genre-bending rock songs, their arsenal of Creeps and Paranoid Androids that leave most of tonight's audience gibbering as if their very lives have been saved. Astonishing.

more bloggers on the loose

i mentioned before that i have discovered new people who kindly link to my blog (via typepad referring stats). i've enjoyed these new discoveries and have added a bundle to my list of blog links. thanks for the linkage.... and glad to see the uk seems to be gradually producing a few more bloggers (something is happening as i seem to be persuading several people at CMS to dip their toes into the blogging waters!). the new additions are

lebs rant (which somehow got dropped off when i transferred - oops)
myfourwalls
greenflame
andesmallwood
nimrods
david finch
bechurch
mykelpickens
back burner
organic church
paradox
jonreid
cleave
life in colour
mike todd

i haven't tracked them for long so can't really vouch for the quality but as they are kind enough to link to me they're added.....

raging grannies

this is the wackiest link i have found in quite some time (don't ask me how or why!)... the raging grannies are a protest group in seattle campaigning for peace and justice and you can even start your own raging grannies group!!!!

this is a line from one of their theme songs -

Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies, Urging you off of your fannies, We’re raising our voice We want a new choice— NO MORE GREED!

RSS feeds for blogger?

several people blogging with blogger have asked how they set up an RSS feed. anyone know?....

everyday apocalypse revisited

today was the first day's lecturing of a course i teach for the centre for youth ministry in oxford called 'youth culture and mission'. it is basically a term module. anyway, i was going through the reading list and enthused about david dark's book everyday apocalypse. i know that i have blooed and linked to this before but the first chapter of the book is available as a pdf download. this is for the benefit of any students dropping in to the blog for the first time - hi!

engagement news!

gareth and philippa have announced their engagement - (both work at cms, and are involved in moot). see mootblog for more... congratulations!!!!!!

worship trick 64 - buy nothing christmas

jamie hoskins is another blog i've discovered via typepad links and he links to buynothingchristmas.org. i have kids so whilst i appreciate the sentiment, it may be a step too far!!!! but having said that it's a cool idea and something at least that should provoke us as we get into the christmas frenzy... there are ideas for alternatives, three study guides you can download and reactions/stories etc.

anyway you may just want to connect with it/use some posters or whatever, but there's a flash animation remember me which i am adding as a worship trick...

thomas merton prayer - worship trick 63

davidfinch has this beautiful prayer from thomas merton (not sure what book it's from)...

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

david finch is a blog i have discovered via my typepad stats as he kindly links to me... there are several i have discovered in this way and they'll drift inbto my orbit over the next few weeks.

RSS and RDF feeds plea

i'm still enjoying the novelty of getting blogs/news to come to me. but here's the thing...

some people put their headline in as a feed and others the whole post. i really have very little idea about the technical side of this. but in typepad you can choose which. so here's the plea - if you have the option please select to feed all of your posts rather than just the headline.

thanks!

a pilgrim moves on

steve and lynne taylor move on from graceway. they had their final service and goodbyes today - a painful parting. i hope the next stage of their journey contains as many friends and surprises as they respond to the beckoning of god into the future....

yeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

yeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!

come on england - you made hard work of it but totally deserved it

blogs starting...

delighted to report a couple of uk blogs staring with CMS connections...

tintin (aka martin thomas) is moblogging - poser i know - moblogging is blogging from your mobile phone. seeing as he travels a lot of the time it suits him really well.... and

sudslaw, blogging from multicultural birmingham. richard is a fab thinker and writer so i personally have high expectations of this one (no pressure rich honest!)

one starting up across the pond is peregrinatio from tim van meter who is another really wise/reflective/thoughtful perosn involved in thinking about theology and youth ministry. he linked to this stunning poem by saheir hammad that i read and was transfixed by on the tube today...

i've actually got loads of others to add, or check out or follow up and add to my links but be patient with me - it's been a busy week... one of the things about typepad is i can see who refers on to me so i have been discovering lots of people who link to me from their blogs - thanks - it's been quite a pleasant discovery! i will be passing by your blogs too and adding into the mix...

gadget of the minute - alt worship potential?

after a few meetings today got to call in to mac expo. managed to get a free ticket (i can't see why people pay to go into what is essentially a shop!). macs are fab - there's no two ways about it. i managed to come away without spending. but the tempting gadget of the day was the itrip which plugs into an ipod and enabvles it to transmit for a radius of 30 feet. so you can play your tunes, select an FM frequency on your car radio or stereo and listen - very very cool! particularly useful for when you end up at a party with very little decent music - broadcast your own station (all illegal in the uk of course as was pointed out to us on the stand!!!!!).... of course the question is how can this be used in alt worship? i'm working on it....