jonnybaker

and you may say to yourself...

i have added a few colour photos from scotland to go with the black and white set. i love this one of jen at st monans smokehouse (if you ever go get some of their smoked paprika - just amazing!)

ADVENTurous

ADVENTurous is an exciting festival on dec 2 in london hosted by greenbelt at the wonderful union chapel. there is a day of thinking, artistry and imagining around the world we live in and the issues we face in the areas of faith, ecology and economy and how we get to a new world. the line up of speakers looks great - mike frost, ann morrisy, ruth valerio, ann pettifor, abdul rehman malik. then in the evening there is an evening of artistry with harry baker (!), iain archer and hope and social. tickets for the whole day if you book before the end of october are only £25 which seems like a pretty good deal. 

en gedi arts are curating the visual arts for this and simultaneously exhibitions and events in leftbank leeds and the imperial hotel in colwyn bay. hope to see you there!

spontaneous eucharist kit

i really love this spontaneous eucharist kit created by molten meditation for greenbelt this year. there's an elaborate write up on it here and how robin and suzanne from two fairly different christian traditions created a way of doing something that was as respectful as possible whilst breaking communion out of it's box. here's how robin describes it

Sometimes it seems that the ritual of the bread and wine are hidden, are kept from people and guarded by the Priests and the church. My desire really is to give the Eucharist away...

...The concept we were trying to get across is that the bread and wine could have a greater significance for us in our daily lives if we took it out of the church. In any moment of celebration or where something needed healing you could bring out the box and share Communion with those around you - or with yourself. How beautiful could that be?

so they had the bread and wne blessed by an ordained priest and created little kits and gave them away - simple eh? you can download a kit here.

this is without doubt a worship trick! no 29 in series 4.

if you are in norfolk check out soulcircus that they are both involved in...

everything was moving

if you get a chance go and see everthing was moving: photography from the 60s and 70s at the barbican. it's a very powerful exhibition especially the photography of the civil rights marches in the usa by bruce davidson, and that of aparthied by david goldblatt and ernest cole. 

church for every context

i have reviewed mike moynagh's wonderful new book church for every context on the cms pioneer web site here

here we go!

today was the first day of the new year on the cms pioneer mission leadership training. it's always so exciting to go round on the first morning and hear who people are and what they dream and aspire to pioneer in mission. some have already started, others have an idea, others just know they want to do something. this is our third year and i have loved both so far and i can tell i'm going to love this one. on top of what we have been doing we have an MA starting and our first intake of ordained pioneers which should keep us busy... i called this photo 'apsirational' - seemed to fit the mood...

where the streams come from

where the streams come from is a series of 3 poem soundscapes from chris goan out this month on proost. i love chris' poetry. check out listing and ten thousand places if you have not come across them. proost interview chris here and he has this to say about poets

For me, poetry is a spiritual act. It involves dwelling on something in a deep and even prayerful way. The process of constructing words that carry as much honesty, emotion and truth as I am able to bring to bear is at times painful, but mostly is a precious thing. The poems I like most carve a new path into something. They are full of sinew and not afraid to express the dark things - the doubt as well as the faith, the pain as well as the joy, the lament as well as the celebration. Poems like this make me cry (in a good way.) The people who write this kind of poetry often carry damage in some way. We are members of the awkward squad, outsiders who look from a different perspective. Poetry becomes one of the ways that those of us who have been sensitised can apply our sensitivity- a kind of gift. 

may you...

i have just got back from breakout, a national gathering of pioneers. i was invited to try and draw together reflections for the last session. this felt a little daunting! the previous day ann morrisy had been taking a couple of sessions. i had never heard her speak which is surprising but i have clearly missed out... anyway she was wonderful, a breath of fresh air, full of imagination and wisdom. as she spoke there were so many choice phrases that i wrote them down. in the final session the best way i could reflect on her words was simply to turn them back as a gift again to people as a blessing by putting the words may you in front of them (a couple of the lines came from other moments rather than things ann said). a few people asked for a copy so i am blogging it as a worship trick

may you get your timing right through prayerfulness
may you take the risk of bringing your broken self and not your sorted self so that the gospel can flow
may you take micro actions that become graced in the least predictable ways
may you resist the temptation towards a theology of answers
may you have many graced encounters where you build on the wisdom discovered by youthworkers in informal education
may you fill out the comma in the creed and break open the story of jesus life and the way he lived
in crisis and in celebration in your communities may god grant you the improvising craft of apt liturgy
may you remember to pause, not be reactive and reflect
may you foster poetry where lament and grief is always legitimate and tears flow
may the deep joy of the holy spirit make you an animateur of fun, play and laughter
may you remember to talk dirty about faith
may you accept the invitation to express venturesome love
may you see many chins pucker in the blade of the moment when jesus story co-incides with peoples story
in your punctured confidence and weakness may you stay vulnerable and alongside
may the holy spirit enliven your imagination such that you find the world magical, enchanted, breathtakingly wonder-ful
may you not be seduced by the tempter and always know that it is not not money that will bring the kingdom of god
may you find friendship with radicalised older women
may you develop the practices and gaze of soft eyes, compassionate responses and hospitality
may you take the risk of conversation that is two way
may you have the courage to unhitch the caravan
may you wholeheartedly embrace the ministry of awakening to traces of ultimacy and rumours of glory and be a midwife to 'god in the soul'
may you hold true to the task and call you have been given such that 'you don't half put it up em!
may you treasure and listen to the youngest

cms pioneer mission leadership training annual report summer 2012

i have just written (a little belatedly) a report on the second year of the cms pioneer mission leadership training. i got accused of sounding a bit american by someone who read it, by which they meant it was very upbeat and enthusiastic as opposed to self deprecatingly english! i hope it's not too much but we are genuinely passionate, excited and enthusiastic about the way the first two years have gone. you can download it here. 

mad as a bear with toothache - worship trick

michael mitton led a pligrimage over august to ireland and wales which provoked a rush of poetry which is up on his web site here. they are poems inspired by celtic saints ciaran, brendan, brigid, kevin, brynach, non, illtyd. they are absolutley delightful and very moving. i know mark berry is going to love this poem/prayer on brendan!! i am making the collection a worship trick. makes me want to go on this pilgrimage...

Dear God
Brendan was as mad as a bear with toothache
But it was a madness you loved
And you took hold of that old bear
And threw him out to sea
'Til he returned to land with such a wild tale
That even the priests laughed themselves silly.
The people danced in the surf of Bantry Bay
And a thousand coracles set sail
Into the bright breeze of your Spirit.
 
O Lord madden me by that same Spirit
Bring on the God-blessed flights of fancy
Inebriate me with Holy Ghost visions
And set me free to behold with the eyes of my heart
Great wonders on the high seas of God.

re-engage - grace kicks back into action this saturday

it's grace this saturday - re-engage, 8pm. september is the start of the year for us. i always like this service as it's a chance to look forward and recommit together to god, to the community and pray for the year ahead. i have often curated this service but this year haven't been involved so am particularly looking forward to it...

finding a new logic for the moment

every year there is a 24 hour get together of people in a region of 5 dioceses in the central south who are involved in theological education. the last few years i've been along and they always manage to find a very stimulating speaker to get conversation started. this year it was graeme codrington of the tomorrow today project who describes himself as a futurist. really what this means is talking about cultural changes in a number of areas and helping businesses, schools, churches and whoever think about the implications. i actually knew graham some years back when he was involved in youth ministry (an area in which people are always interested in the changes in culture of course).

all that is by way of saying that we had a pretty interesting discussion today around this question -

If the old logic won't work how do we find a new logic for the moment?

i had lots of suggestions to make but if you have any thoughts leave a comment!

a second and related quote from mark twain was also memorable

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble it's what you know for sure…

two gulls

this is possibly the favourite photo i have taken for a while (things have been quiet on the photography front of late). it looks good on black actually. it's part of a set of black and white photos i took in fife a few weeks back...