jonnybaker

the love that loves us

love that loves us, merci!

these are the concluding words or prayer of 'to the wonder', a film by terrence malick that's out in cinemas at the moment. it's dividing audiences. the guardian and litle white lies both loved it giving rave reviews while others are giving one star. 

it's a mystical exploration of love, life, god, wonder, and the meaning of existence. it's poetic, arty, and romantic. words come and go in french and english, half of which are mumbled. there's lot's of silence. lots of it is shot around twilight. if you go and see it there is really no point unless you can turn off your cynical or critcal self. for most of us that's pretty hard - i had to fight myself in the film to avoid flipping into that! in the end this paid dividends and i found it a curious, surprising film that has lingered with me ever since and is still making me think. 

for most mystics the goal of life is union with god. the start point is usually that there's a restlessness and longing in all of us for that union. meanwhile as we search and look for meaning many many things distract us, and we find our own desire, love and relationships give moments of joy and wonder and delight, but they are also shot through with our own struggles and selfish desire and brokeness. we see in part but won't see fully until we are one with god. that is the theme of the film, plain and simple like hands on stained glass trying to touch the light beyond. there's a parallel story track between lovers looking for that union and finding glimpses of it that get lost on the way, and with a priest who similarly does the same. mean time the soil of the town is polluted and making people ill. the woman who is the central character is always aware of something that is beyond, that is transcendent, that is the love that loves us, in spite of how fractured her own relationships (and the very soil of the earth) become at times. it reminded me of the quote from douglas coupland in life after god

sometimes i think the people to feel saddest for are people who once knew what profoundness was but who lost or became numb to the sensation of wonder - people who closed the doors that lead us into the secret world - or who had the doors closed for them by time and neglect and decisions made in times of weakness

our culture in the uk is not really very open to this mystical view of the world. we have become numb, angry even at the notion of something beyond ourselves, that we might not be at the centre of the universe. some of the reviews show this anger - apparently the film was booed at the film festival in venice when it was shown. when we saw it five people walked out. i was amazed to find myself watching it in a big cinema. it's overtly spiritual, unasamedly presenting the viewer with their own restlessness or longing for the love that loves us. there's nowhere to hide. you can disagree with the mystical view and walk out but our existence is laced with the experience that this landscape of desire is right at the core of who we are. i certainly came out longing more for the love that loves us. i guess the photo above which i called longing at the time was me trying to say something similar to terrence malick!

stillness and pioneering

in september i read a poem by michael mitton inspired by the celtic saint kevin. well it turned out that it really caught ric stott's attention as an approach to pioneering mission. he has blogged about kevin's hand - and this is a painting of his. what i think is interesting about it is that the stereotype of pioneering is often thought of as an activist or at least someone who is making things happen through doing stuff. st kevin offers a different model of pioneering through stillness and patience. 

it reminded me of the book by elaine heath - the mystic way of evangelism which fuses insights from the contemplative life with mission. i meant to review it but never got round to it. but here's a quote i jotted down...

Christian mysticism is about the holy transformation of the mystic by God, so that the mystic becomes instrumental in the transformation of God’s people. This transformation always results in missional action in the world. The idea that mysticism is private and removed from the rugged world of ministry is simply false. All the Old Testament prophets were mystics. Their visions, dreams and other experiences of God were for the express purpose of calling God’s people back to their missional vocation.

there's an interview with elaine here

posterous to close

well the writing has been on the wall since twitter bought posterous but it all ends on april 30. this is a shame as their blogging was so neat and simple - i persuaded several people to start blogging with posterous and have used it for the ealing photography group blog... 

breathe

gracelet returns

at grace we took a break from gracelet for a season but it is now back on the fourth sunday of the month with a simple liturgy and a focus of community prayer. 

creativity in youthwork

tomorrow i am leading a training day for youthworkers in london on creativity which i am looking forward to. details, the flyer etc can be downloaded from here. i am sure it's not too late to just turn up!

lent begins

i love the season of lent - it's a time to prepare for easter, and a time to think about what it means to follow christ. 

if you are looking for ideas of something to do to help you in that process here's a few i have noticed 

cms has a resource called 40 days of yes - it's free, short and simple and will help you reflect on mission and discipleship. you can download as a pdf or follow each day.

brian draper is running his annual reflections - he is a gifted writer in the area of spirituality

elizabeth sercombe (who i know little about) is doing an online adventure thing - others have enthused to me about her - see more here - you'll have to e-mail her for info

proost has a bundle of resources to use either individually or for a church - search under lent or look at the latest newsletter. they include of course the amazing si smith video 40 that i watch every lent and still love!

christine sine begins a series return to our senses in lent which starts tomorrow

mark pierson always sends me a resource printed for lent (and does the same for advent) through the post from new zealand which is extraordinary! you can see and sign up to receive his daily reflections here 

at grace we are having weekly meals and conversations with visitors from other communities round london coming and sharing their stories and learning.

if you know of other things or ideas post a comment below. don't be overwhelmed by the different things. by way of advice pick one practice that you might engage in to help you reflect through the season.

making communion - new book of grace communion liturgies

i am very excited! yes some people don't believe that my laid back self does excitement but i am honestly (at least inside)!

the first copy of making communion, a collection of communion liturgies from grace has landed on my doorstep hot of the press. this is the latest in proost's pocket liturgy series. it is the longest yet at around 150 pages. i feel very proud of it having helped put it together. 

there's a couple of reasons i particularly like this book...

the first is that grace have spent a lot of time over the years trying to work out how to be creative with communion whilst also being respectful to the tradition we are located in (church of england). so this book gave us a chance to write a summary in a 20 page introduction of how we have thought that through  and worked it out. i hope and suspect this may be of interest to lots of other communities who are trying to negotiate similar challenges. if you do read it we would love some feedback and further discussion around that.

the second is that there are 24 liturgies or ways that we have celebrated communion. most have been written by members of grace. a few are from other communities and used with permission. but there are some really lovely and inspiring prayers and approaches. many are on the grace web site in the archives but it's great to pull them together in one place. 

you can order a physical book through lulu who we use to self publish.

or you can order a pdf to download through proost - it's part of proost's lent new releases.

if you are a proost subscriber, then you can access the book as part of your subscription. did you know that there are now around 25 books published on proost?! i have all the pocket liturgies on an ipad so can pull them up at any time. the books alone are worth more than the cost of a subscription before you add in the movies and albums and other stuff.

riffing on john of the cross

desire from jonny baker on Vimeo.

grace last night was inspired by john of the cross and invloved an exploration of longing, the veil of the senses, the veil of the spirit and union with god. it felt a bit back to the old school as we draped muslin screens, got slide projectors out and went slightly ott! i have added the outline of it and linked to photos, prayers, stations, movies and so on in the grace web site archive here.

if you were interested in the themes the book that inspired me is called the shattered lantern and this little grove booklet is also a good intro.

i am adding the whole thing a a worship trick...

labyrinths take over london

mark wallinger is going to be installing a wall mounted labyrinth at all 270 london underground stations - yes 270! now there's a photographic challenge for someone...

the writers of creative review clearly have no idea on the difference between a labyrinth and a maze but i assume the designs will all be labyrinths.

the first ten designs are up at baker st, bank, embankment, victoria, green park, kings cross st pancras, oxford circus, tottenham court rd, westminster, st james park with rest due in the summer. 

to reach satisfaction...

To reach satisfaction in all
desire satisfaction in nothing

To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing

To arrive at being all
desire to be nothing

To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing

these are words from john of the cross in a poem that we will be exploring at grace this saturday - see you there?!