jonnybaker

this is a table...

last night we had friends round for a meal and conversation. maundy thursday is a day particularly to remember jesus' meals with friends and to share bread and wine at the table. we chatted about the various meals and tables jesus had and was round. i invited people to complete a sentence that began 'this is a table...' and that then became a prayer of thanks as we read them out and shared bread and wine to remember

This is a table of new expectations

This is a table where everyone can come to receive

This is a table for those who haven't met Jesus before

This is a table with the Lord of the harvest and catch

This is a table where the host is often in the dependent position

This is a table where we are reconciled

This is a table where there is safety and acceptance

This is a table which welcomes, invites, provides, unites

This is a table where uncomfortable things happen

This is a table that was the natural place to be

This is a table that was the place to meet people

This is a table where strength is restored

This is a table, this is our community

what kind of world?

what kind of world, what kind of society do we want to live in in the uk? as you probably know if you read the blog regularly i have made more comment in the last year on the political than for a long time. it's because we seem to have a government that is increasingly trying to re-organise the world we live in horrible unjust ways whilst trotting out rhetoric of the so called big society. we need another imagining, dreaming, constructing of what a possible world looks like. i want to be part of a society that cares for the least well off, those with virtually nothing, not one that priotects the wealthy and hits the poor the hardest.

the latest piece that struck me in the guardian that had some brilliant imagining was from george monbiot in a piece property theft and how we must breach this scared line. he proposed a couple of years back a simple tax on the top owner occupiers - the 1% who on average have 15 million pounds of property - yes you read that right! instead of the outrageous policy of moving people with a spare (read second) room out somewhere else - the bedrrom tax - often hundreds of miles away in the country away from family and friends. of course the right hates this suggestion and george - but this is precisely the kind of thinking we need right now.

so much beauty in the world...

northern lights

chasing ice

last night i went to see the film chasing ice which was put on by ealing transition. it's well worth seeing if you get a chance. if you are in doubt about the shifts in climate, after watching james balog's time lapse movies of glaciers you will have a visual picture that is at the same time utterly compelling visually and will make you want to lament. it's what he calls the extreme ice survey. the commitment to place 25 cameras in extreme positions and conditions to take hourly photographs of glaciers is amazing...

james balog gave a TED talk in 2009 and towards the end of this you see some of the time lapse movies. it's well worth 20 minutes of your life.

i have been meaning to go to a gathering of ealing transition for a while so it was good to finally go and meet people and hear of local initiatives in response to climate change and shifting our dependency on oil. it's an extraordinary movement. one of the anglican 5 marks of mission is care for the environment. one brilliant way of doing that would be to join in with transiition if it's going on near you.

easter resources

proost has lots of resources for easter. you can search in the seasons section under good friday or easter. or there are a bundle of links in the latest news update. if you wanted something to follow through holy week crucify this jesus as liturgies for each day beginning today...

i have linked to and blogged about lots of things on the blog over the last ten years. feel free to scroll through anything i have tagged easter.

i thought this letter from brian walsh was a rather delightful invitation to come home in holy week...

walk on - art exhibition in ealing!

i often feel envious of other parts of london that seem to have lots of art going on. well starting next week ealing has what looks like a really good exhibition opening at the PM gallery. called walk on it explores 40 years of art walking including work from the likes of richard long and julian opie... 

so much music...

loving this year so far for music. bbc 6 music especially gilles petersen, craig charles and mary anne hobbs shows have become weekly essential listens. but the delights of the year so far include the likes of these artists some of whom have albums out, and some on the way

• bonobo new album (on right now...)
• deptford goth
• efterklang (ok so that was released last year but is an amazing discovery - remember seeing them at the big chill a few years back - perhaps my favourite of the year so far)
• london grammar
• james blakes 
• steve mason
• david bowie
• villagers
• laura mvula
• the relatives 
• falty dl
• lapalux
• john grant
• nick cave
• vondelpark
• foals
• tosca
• nils frahm
• four tet 
• atoms for peace
• gregory porter
• pantha du prince
• hiatus kaiyote
• gold panda
• lion babe
• kwes
• lulu james
• half moon run
• george ezra

so what are you listening to?

a question...

the latest update from fresh expressions seemed jam packed with interesting things - i highlight a couple here.

i am headed to wells on thursday to do a training day for bath and wells diocese on curating worship - download the brochure for info. i actually have two or three things on curating worship over the next few months. i was chatting with someone yesterday about it and it seems that the concept of curation as a way of thinking about leading worship is out there in conversation and imagination in quite a few spaces now which i hope is a good thing!

i was asked a question via e-mail this week from a pastor in the usa which i thought i'd run by you. it went something like this...

I have noticed that many of the emerging church blogs and websites have dried up. Where I live, there were virtually zero churches doing what you were doing. I like to play and create and offer worship experiences that are different from the traditional 1900's models; however, I have found it difficult to find folks in my area who share this.  These blogs were my discussions of ideas, etc. Have these churches and creators of worship arts gone somewhere else, or are they just gone? If you have suggestions on where else I can go to find discussion and idea creation for alternative worship, I would greatly appreciate it!

i sent a reply saying that i thought a lot was happening but inevitably the conversation moves and things like twitter and facebook have had a part to play in that. but equally the phases of the church reconfiguring that were called emerging church and alternative worship have been passed through i suspect. lots of things now seem to be configuring around mission and community. quite a few people have got involved in moving worship into public space which is good. others are gathered round meal tables in small missional communities under the radar. but i do think it's harder to find groups who are creating worship that grabs the imagination, soul and spirit. if any of you have thoughts/comments on this issue do make them here or on facebook where i'll also post the question. and if you know of hubs post them. i post less on worship now but am still passionate about it. the reason i post less is that so much of my time and energy is taken up in running the cms pioneer training so i post less on everything!

steve has paused the alternativeworship web site. he says this

This site has existed since 2002. The movement it attempts to describe and map is now too diverse and widespread to be adequately summarised here, even if I still had time and energy to do so. Consequently this site will not now be actively maintained, as in truth has been the case for some time. However, the site is still functional as a gateway to the movement on the internet, for those coming from Google, Wikipedia or books. The definitions [which have been much quoted] have been updated, along with the directories. The practical advice is still valid. Beyond this site, the alternative worship/emerging church world is highly interconnected, so follow the links and you will find much more

and we paused the emergingchurch.info web site a while back now which i notice has disappeared off the internet so i will try and least get it hosted somewhere as it contains lots of great stories...

i noticed that pete rollins has posted that maybe one of the spaces things have moved to is with non-christians...

 

pioneer training - new prospectus

we're now halfway through the third year of the cms pioneer mission leadership training course i set up. since it began we have had around 50 people do something with us - a module or more. and we have now added an MA and have our first year of pioneers training for ordination. we have recently used up the last of our original print run of prosepectuses (or is it prospecti?!). so we decided to give it a fresh look and update the content to reflect where we are up to now. you can download a pdf of it here. and if you would like a printed copy go here and you can see who to e-mail to get one sent to you. we are small and new so we are always keen to get the word out but don't have big budget to do so - so please do tell others about it, and pass it on. my completely biased opinion is that if you are a pioneer you should train with us!

every month we post an interview with one of our pioneer students - so if you want to get a flavour of the kinds of things people do follow along with that. the latest is with kim hartshorne

caption?

well grace was as random as anticipated last night. couldn't think of a caption for this photo - any suggestions?! i have added a set of photos here

goldfish

yes - possibly the strangest title ever for grace - but this saturday it's goldfish 

empire remixed

thanks to bob carlton for the link to #4, a poem from empire remixed blog that begins like this.

Join us,
comrades in the struggle for
the anti-Kingdom
the non-State
the Party w/out a vanguard

the anarchic community of communities...

europe leading the way - another world is possible

i have said many times on this blog how inspired i have been by the phrase - another world is possible - that I saw on barrier tape at the occupy movement. in particular when i start to think what needs to shift i get incensed by the culture of big business, banking, and bonuses paralleled by the stripping of resources to those who are poor. only yesterday i read how many more billionaires there are in the world - this should not happen. we don't have to organise society in this way. things can be different. well europe have had enough and are taking action on bankers bonuses. simon jenkins writes about it here. this is such a relief! and I hope it is the front end of some serious change in all sorts of ways. of course britain is marginalised, not joining in, thinks it knows better, as you would expect under the current government. but I could not agree more with simon when he suggests that if bankers leave the country it would be no loss... the swiss certainly have the right idea

incarnate network

just arrived in derbyshire for 3 days to take part in the incarnate network's annual gathering...

in evesham tonight...

looking forward to joining evesham parish church and others for their lent series entitled christian nation?

i will be speaking tonight and hosting conversation around mission and some of the shifts in the last 20 years. i've found it quite an interesting time frame to think about. i reckon it was about 20 years ago i read pete ward's youth culture and the gospel (which came out in 1992) followed by vincent donavon's christianty rediscovered (published 1978) which combined switched me on to cross cultural mission as the way to approach working with young people and everything ever since!