jonnybaker

if you liked the dead texan...

if you liked the dead texan album then try

stars of the lid - and their refinement of the decline. it's instrumental, chilled , ambient, no beats... perfect background for meditation, prayers or just chilling. don't try driving to it though - it will send you to sleep! you can download a sample track here

facebook oppression

is it just me?... i am getting sick of facebook oppression

there are so many facebook evangelists out there, by which i mean people keen to convert me to the delights of facebook (for those that don't know the social networking software of choice of the middle class). i am resisting their charms but last night whilst on ichat i got an automatic message via facebook from someone who shall remain nameless inviting me to an event they were speaking at and to join facebook (it was actually in the US so fat chance i'd make it!). this was the last straw. i can no longer keep silent. i do not need facebook in my life. stop inviting me to be your friends and to your facebook diary events. i have not chosen to receive this info so as far as i am concerned it's spam!!!!!!!

why?

i blog, and have a network of friends around the world online through that and i follow conversation through a newsreader and feeds and occasionally technorati (though i honestly don't have time for that either). i use flickr and have a network online through that of people interested in photography. i have a myspace page (well two). to be honest i never look at that other than answering friend requests - i joined because i make music and felt like i ought to. seems like every musician is out there. (i actually think myspace is a mess but that's another story). i am also in a network or five of e-mail groups/password protected spaces - youthwork multimedia, alternative/emerging, IASYM, UK alt/emerging leaders/groups, and network of entrepreneurial talent (NET). managing information often feels like holding back the tide so i don't want to open up another gateway to the sea - e-mail alone is always on the edge of being out of control in my life. so sorry everyone - i will not be joining facebook any time soon. you can of course look forward to the day when i eat my words if that day comes and remind me of my futile resistance. (i confess my heart sank when i saw that even andrew jones (my digital mentor who got me blogging, using ecto, newsreaders, and then shifting to typepad) was evangelising the masses about facebook.)

i have nothing against it or those that love it. if it works for you... great. but i am happy with my old fashioned blog world. ok i am now bracing myself for a reaction. hit me with it!... or discuss it amongst yourselves on facebook ;-) - of course i have been suspicous that blog readers are leaving less comments now because they are all so busy on facebook but now i am sounding paranoid!

toilet humour

ok i'm not normally one for youtube videos on my blog - i think i've said before that i think they look a mess... but this is rather ridiculous - japanese toilet humour

isaac everett new album - transmission

following the relaunch of proostwe 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.

emerging church update and where it's all headed in the uk

in case you wondered emergingchurch.info is still alive and well. just had a pause over the summer...

the sept issue is up with

online worship and a really interesting reflection from ian mobsby who steps back to reflect on where all this is headed in the uk and what some of the issues are.

there are a couple of interviews in the cafe. sometimes it's easy to think that the emerging stuff is going on in denominations partly beacuse they have created space for stuff but there is a ton of stuff going on outside that's harder to see and measure. people meeting in homes, for meals and all that. so glad to see a story that involves cooking dinner.

ReSource - begins in a week and a half but not too late to join us

the first weekend of this year's ReSource course is in less than two weeks...

if you are in an emerging church community, a church plant situation, a mission project or want to get involved in one then the course is for you or encourage someone to come along. hurry up and book...

it is a series of 5 weekends through the year on culture, mission, church, leadership and transformation. as well as the teaching input there is plenty of space to chat through stuff, reflect on your own situation and journey with and learn from others.

i think there is still some money available in a bursory fund to subsidise fees if you can't afford it all.

download a brochure here and contact beth who directs it. i'll be there on pretty much the whole course as cms are a partner in it.

one for church leaders...

that sunday morning feeling

and whilst thinking of cartoons, cheryl posted this powerful one - wounded

i have a new book out! the labyrinth: a transforming ritual

the labyrinth: a transforming ritual has just been published by ytc press. in it i explore ritual and how it is strategic in postmodern times using the labyrinth that we set up at st pauls cathedral in 2000 as my example. this may sound familiar to some of you because it's my dissertation finally getting into print.

ytc press is a new company that is going to be publishing books for youth ministry and they have an academic/monograph line that this is in...

nice tri

congratulations harry and jen on completing your triathlons yesterday!

(this is harry crossing the finish line of his first triathlon looking suitably happy and knackered)

the finding of adam tangle

i have just read the finding of adam tangle by michael volland. it is a fast paced read telling the tale of a 17 year old on the edge after finding his girlfriend is pregnant. his life is spiraling out of control when there's an intervention. the theme/vibe is a bit like douglas coupland. the writing style is first person and seventeen year old speak. it took me a while to get into the first person style but once i had it rolled along. i read it in one sitting...

it's self published and you can buy or download via lulu.

michael is part of feig and used to be a youthworker down the road in hanwell.

wye valley

wye pattern, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

at the weekend jen and i celebrated 20 years of marriage with a weekend away in the wye valley and forest of dean, a lovely part of britain. i have added a set of a few photos to flickr.

goodbye josé mourinho

i was shocked to wake today to find that

Chelsea Football Club and José Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent.

this quote from the chelsea web site doesn't exactly give a lot away. josé took chelsea to winning the premiership twice, the FA cup, and the league cup twice all in three years. what more could you ask for?! i thought he was fantastic as a manager - fun, entertaining, arrogant, a wind up merchant, and brought a real edge to the premiership. it's easy to forget that when he arrived man united and arsenal were dominant. chelsea fans will be absolutely gutted.

no doubt stories will come out about why - the rift with abramovich, a stuttering start to the season, too many chiefs and not enough control given to the manager... but it makes no sense and i would guess the players will be gutted (apart from shevchenko maybe).

(bbc | guardian)

holy joes, rev george bush and two pulpits

holy joes was one of the earliest alternative worship groups in the uk. over 18 years it has ebbed and flowed. after a recent sabbatical where the community had some space and a rethink about what they are up to, holy joes now have a home base in the crypt of st mary le bow. i was invited to speak/join an evening discussion on tuesday and shared some reflections on the journey and changes we have been on in grace. it was good to go along and the space they meet is amazing.

apparently the central worship space is unusual in that it has two pulpits. you can just about make that out in this picture... i have written before about deconstructing and re-imagining preaching but hadn't thought of two pulpits for debate or preach offs. love to know what the historical use was... the other memorable thing about the church is that the vicar is called rev george bush! (honestly)...

worship for the perfect the already arrived?

sally morgenthaler has wriitten a brilliant piece on worship in the USA. it sounds like she has been on a painful but profound journey over the last 10 years. it's worth a read of the whole piece but here's a couple of choice quotes. i've met sally a couple of times and she gave a very kind foreword to the US edition of alternative worship.

No sad songs. No angry songs. Songs about desperation, but none about despair. Worship for the perfect. The already arrived. The good-looking, inoffensive, and nice. No wonder the unchurched aren't interested.

For all the money, time, and effort we've spent on cultural relevance—and that includes culturally relevant worship—it seems we came through the last 15 years with a significant net loss in churchgoers, proliferation of megachurches and all.

As I exit the world of corporate worship, I want to offer this hope and prayer. May you, as leader of your congregation, have the courage to leave the "if we build it, they will come" world of the last two decades behind.

unravelling - worship trick 13

at greenbelt this year i missed ikon's god delusion...

so i was pleasantly surprised, following a link from cheryl's blog, to see so much of the content added to their web space.

i love pretty much anything padraig twomney does and these two poems are absolutely beautiful (and i'm making them worship trick 13, series 3). i don't actually know if they were sung or spoken...

breaking me and the closing benediction - go in pieces

i also really liked the typically ikonic piece where does your faith lie?

hoodie

one evening in portugal i went to take some night shots with harry but it wasn't really happening as i hoped so we started messing around taking photos of harry instead and that turned out to be much more fun and interesting. i think this is my favourite though this one is fun too - he can use them on his first album cover!?

october 4th - church planting conference in london - book!

there is a national church planting conference/day on october 4 in london hosted by acpi. i'll be going and hope to meet some of you there?... there was due to be one in sheffield as well but it has been cancelled as not many people had booked. i guess people are like me and hadn't got round to it yet! the last one i went to was excellent - i remember rowan williams speaking and having lunch with ben edson, adrian riley and steve collins (i think!)...

It's at st mary's crawford, london and costs £25. further info is here

and if you are in or around london this saturday don't miss maggi dawn and doug at the blah day on reimagining leadership. i won't be there as i am celebrating 20 years of being married with a weekend away with jen (yes i am that old!)

on evangelical identity... i'll get my coat

yesterday dean and i joined the grove books editorial teams for their conference/get together. grace had been invited to lead a worship experience which we did in the evening and it seemed to go well. for people who were there and were interested in following it up, some of the prayers we used and the origami bird flying were taken from the grace sept service we did last year. this is in the grace archive here. follow the links to find the prayers. proost produces reources that fuel faith and we have started a series of pocket liturgies. one of the first books is grace pocket liturgies which is in the books section of the site and you can order a hard copy or download it from there. the blessing we used at the end is one of a series of worship tricks i post from time to time on this blog.

the day got off to a slightly awkward start. christina baxter, the principal of st john's college nottingham, had given a presentation on evangelical identity. i was then invited on to a panel to respond to questions along with christina and george lings. they had both done presentations and i hadn't so i was asked to introduce myself and respond to what she had said. i couldn't find a way of being diplomatic so i blurted out that i thought the notion of evangelical identity was a non issue, an issue from a bygone era, a defensive posture and something i didn't relate to even though i appreciate the heritage i have. it's about being part of a tribe. i said that for me being a disciple of christ in the global and historical body of christ was enough. i didn't need or relate to the narrower construct. and something i have learned through cms is that we really only know who christ is as we see his many faces and representations round the world. so rather than defending ourselves from others as we know what's right (or think we do!) we should be celebrating the diversity and richness they bring to the table. the take on truth that evangelicalism has had really doesn't seem to respond well to postmodern insights of our embeddedness that requires minimally humility about truth claims. even something like penal substitution that evangelicals get so hot and bothered about is a western understanding of the cross shaped by our context. i read a chapter recently in a book from a missionary in japan who pointed out that the legal substitution makes no sense in shame based cultures and they have to read or open up the meaning of christ's death in very different ways. as you can imagine that was an interesting start! of course part of the debate is about language - what do we mean by evangelical and some people want to reclaim or reform it? but for me it's a term whose shelf life has run out as is the term liberal for similar reasons. and i'm not even post evangelical because i don't even construct identity in relation to it. when i had finished i was reminded of that fantastic fast show sketch where at the end the guy who says the wrong thing always says 'i'll get my coat' so concluded with that...

athiest worship

athiest worship

wayfaring stranger and just wanna be loved

at grace on saturday i selected music for the road or journey. one of my favourites were two versions of wayfaring stranger - one on the triptych compliation by the anita kerr quartet and the other a mix by burial of jamie woon's wayfaring stranger. if you've not come across burial they are part of the dub step movement - hard to describe - slowed down drum and bass heavy on the bass and tripped out i guess.

another track that i played was from this year's favourite chillout compilation of mine - the chillout lounge - which has a stunning selection of tracks ( i actually played a few tracks from that cd). the track is just wanna be loved by roebeck. finding instrumental tracks to use in worship is easy - it's always a bit harder to find tracks with a suitable vocal so i am adding these as worship trick 12 [series 3]

i have updated my listening to selection in the sidebar.

a few of the other travelling tunes i played were:
far i have come by arsenal
traveller by talvin singh
journey by nitin sawhney
roads by portishead
take the lord along with you by sister gertrude
nightwalker by trentmoller
journey inwards by ltj bukem
ramblin man by lemon jelly

other suggestions?

[the outline for grace is in the grace archive including a copy of the wonderful grace map, prayers used and an autumn video loop...]