jonnybaker

chris curtis had this photo of a garage door on his blog with the words don't lose your sense of wonder - reminded me of american beauty where the bag is floating round... and of douglas coupland who does the wonder theme better than anyone...

well today we made our annual visit to the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition at the natural history museum. amazing photos as ever and incredible commitment on the part of the photographers to capture their perfect shots often waiting years to get them... there are so many amazing creatures, colours, seasons, aesthetic combinations, shapes, moods, and atmospheres in the world. it's wonderful to be reminded of how fantastic creation is. it's easy watching the news with all the crap that's always going on in the world to forget. bring on the day when all of creation is set free from its bondage to decay - if a broken world contains these creatures what will a healed world be like?!

one of my favourite pics was one of the simplest - this whale.

the arrangement of the photos was excellent with them all back lit. they sold postcards of them but they didn't have the same vibrant colour as when they were in the exhibition.

if you are in danger of losing your sense of wonder go along (and while you are there, the earth from the air exhibition is still outside - another stunning set of photos)

still more blogs

i'm still discovering more blogs... (i think i'll have to hone down the ones i link to shortly!) but i was delighted to discover that chris curtis has started a blog. i think he'll make a great blogger. a while back he wrote a wonderful letter/challenge to youth ministers that was published in youthwork magazine in the uk. but the letter is on his blog (well his first blog but that's now shifted to typepad).

have also enjoyed following backyardmissionary. it's the sort of incarnational mission i think is needed.

and alan creech is someone whose name i have seen linked to a lot. anyway he has this great spiel on emerging church that lots of others have mentioned and has provoked a huge amount of comments on his blog. i was going to comment but there are so many i didn't bother!

jason clark is also a blog i realise i have never added to my list (oops). he is the uk rep for emergent-uk and seems to have boundless energy for putting on events and conferences related to the emerging church...

these are all added to my list of links...

blog translation

tallskinnykiwi strikes again! he has posted up a way to translate the pages of your blog into other languages. basically go to google language tools and type in your page and then choose the language translation you want. then copy the url address and that will be your blog in that language. there are only french, german, italian, spanish, portuguese, english available as far a i can see. the translation as you would expect is pretty ropey. if you look in andrew's comments you will discover that leonard sweet is translated as 'bonbon leonard' which is fantastic!!! no doubt i am 'boulanger jonny'?! anyway i am adding the translations in as links - let me know if they end up being too awful! and if you know how to get a danish translation let me know for my danish friends out there....

jan/feb events in london

been off away from the blog and internet for a few days (my christmas post was written in advance - a cool feature of typepad). anyway i'm still off work but back blogging...

some events in January?February not to miss:

Meeting Them Where They Are At is a seminar on detached youth work by Nigel Pilmott and Richard Passmore. It's being held at St John's church, Richmond (London) which is next to Richmond train and tube station.
It will cost £5.
It's on 15 January at 7:30pm

Richard Passmore's book is brilliant. In my view he is the single best trainer on detached youthwork - who has both done it successfully but has translated that doing it into ideas/concepts that others can get hold of and apply in their own contexts. Nigel is also a very creative inspiring person. So make the most of it.

If you want more info e-mail moya

Alan Jamieson, author of Churchless Faith which is a stunning piece of research on why people leave churches (in particular evengelical/pentecostal/charismatic churches) is in london being hosted by emergent uk. he is doing two day seminars in sutton (london) (they are both the same so just sign up for one) on 26 and 27 january from 10am - 4pm. details are at emergent-uk. it costs £10 for the day.

i heard alan at kings college last year and he was excellent - another one not to miss.

Blah.. will be back at CMS with the first one on 24 February early evening - more details later but tom sine will be our guest

Union

[grid blog :: advent 4]

Nothing. No light, no time, no substance, no matter - the Voice was there. Before anything moved, mutated or mated, Jesus, God's voice, was there with God from the kick-off. How come? 'Cos Jesus, God's Voice, is God. Before anything began, they had always been. Before there was even anywhere to be, they were there. Jesus got the name God's Voice because he just spoke and things started. From nothing to everything, sparked only by the Voice.....

..... So God's Voice gets flesh and blood, skin and bone. He spends time with us; we hang around with him, get to know him and see what he's like. And? As magnificent, as superb as you'd expect God's only Son to be... and heaps more! God's OTT gifts oozing from every pore: everything he does and says rings true.....

..... Who's seen God? No one. But we've seen his only Son, jesus, and you don't get closer than that.

[Excerpts from the Gospel of John chapter 1, taken from The Street Bible by Rob Lacey, published by Zondervan]

network church

a new reflection on network church. another moment of insight from the irrepressible small ritual. steve when are you going to produce a book?

more blogs

have added these to my blog list and re-ordered the list alphabetically

nailscars
charliewear
beef
sijohnston
seb
hereticscorner
anna aven

two fingers

yesterday we visited ely cathedral for their morning service. it's where jen's parents live. i snapped the labyrinth there in the entrance which is one of the only cathedral ones in england. the design is also straight edged, the closest looking to our design - don't know if steve used this as an inspiration?....

my son harry was highly amused to find that the hassock/kneeler in front of him had two fingers sticking up at him all the way through the service. no doubt the symbolism meant something different but to him it meant only one thing and he was delighted to find it in church!

alternative nativity

alternative nativity!

[grid blog :: advent 3] - source

the weblog revolution

an interesting reflection on weblogs from rebecca blood in the guardian

All this represents something new: participatory media. And it matters. Not because of its resemblance to familiar institutions, but because of its differences from them. Weblogs are just too varied, too idiosyncratic, to fit into an existing box.

book now available

jenny's book transforming prayers is now available to order from proost (see blog entry 3 posts below)

guardian weblog awards

the guardian has announced the winners of its weblog competition. my favourite is the stunning black and white photography of rob gardiner

its also worth checking out the weblogs section as they have added articles on lots of the blog providers and their merits. if you are thinking of starting a blog and want to know about the different providers this is a great introduction.

bizarre search...

if you type into google 'what to buy my wife for christmas', the third entry is my blog entry for 'buy nothing christmas' - hope that there won't be too many disappointed wives as a result!!!!

Transforming Prayers

CONGRATULATIONS! to jenny whose book Transforming Prayers has been published in the USA/Canada by Group... it's a book of prayer ideas to use in groups/services. it's aimed at youth ministry but actually lots of the ideas will work for any/all ages - we've used several at grace. you can order transforming prayers from Group.

its not got a publisher in the UK but we have got some to sell via proost... life's busy so it hasn't been added yet. in the meantime if you want a copy send us £10 with your name and address (cheque payable to proost) to proost, 77 st pauls close, ealing, london w5 3jx and we'll send you a copy. or wait until it's on the site (but you'll have to pay postage then!).

for 1giantleap lovers...

mark berry buzzed me an e-mail and has blogged about new music from faithless members jamie catto and dave randall who have launched a new label spaciousmusic with three new albums on to date...

i haven't heard the stuff yet but if anyone has and can let me know their verdict i'd appreciate it before making the investment...

worship trick 44 addition!

inspired by bill viola's angels (see worship trick 44) jonathan finley has used it as the basis of his advent grid blog. but don't miss the wonderful video he has made using the pics... the best grid blog on advent so far - certainly put a lot more effort in than i have!!!!

today's cartoon in the guardian - fantastic! i seem to rave about something in the guardian every week. sorry if it's getting dull... i'll try and get out more!

C of E watch out!

congrats to derek spencer who was ordained yesterday at chichester cathedral. derek is a fantastic youth worker - creative, one of the best natural relational people you'll ever meet, reflective, resourceful.... he works for the storrington deanery doing stuff in schools, residential camps, relational work and so on. one of the initiatives he has started is edenzone a monthly youth worship experience/congregation. it has started really well. the bishop has persuaded derek to get ordained as he thinks it will open up possibilities - say to do communion at edenzone or whatever. i think this is pretty smart on the bishop's part. derek doesn't fit the mould at all - and that is precisely what the church needs - more people that don't fit the mould. maybe if we get enough of them the mould would break?!... plus derek will not be a vicar but will stay outside the box doing youth ministry...

anyway it was a moment of hope for the dear old C of E. the service was long and dry... in fact it was a window into how big a problem there is and how much it needs to change. but derek go for it - rev spencer eh?!

advent blog list

bob carlton has put a list of advent grid bloggers here....