jonnybaker

embers and gracelet

the next grace is called embers and is on saturday 9 october - really liking the theme... here's the blurb:

A reflective service inspired by Jon Hopkins' track 'Sit around the fire'.

It feels like the past two years have left many things burned out and reduced to ashes, but among the ashes may be embers that can be nursed into flame again.

What for you feels like it has turned to ashes? Is there an ember at the core of you that you would like to fan into flame? What are the embers of Grace that we would like to fan into flame? What would you like to leave as ashes?

Join us at 8pm in real life at St Mary's Ealing.

Café afterwards, possibly with burnt offerings.

i think grace have been pretty creative online for the last eighteen months but it is good to be able to meet on site as it were. but we are wanting to carry our learning forward and have a mix of online and on site so gracelet will be a monthly online gathering. it's been lovely connecting with the grace diaspora and others - see flyer above for info

a beautiful carpet of inspiration for us to walk on...

thanks to gill poole for the enthusiastic review of imagining mission. if you want to know what the book is about she goes through chapter by chapter for an in depth review. gill describes it as a beautiful carpet of inspiration to walk on... that has wonderful perspectives that invite us into a conversation...

if you have not looked at the book i am really proud of it - don't be put off by the obscurity of john taylor - you don't have to know about him or think it's historical. it's a book written for this moment riffing on his creative writing and ideas.

a really good starting point...

so says mel neale in her review of pioneer practice in baptists together - thank you! she concludes by saying

This book provides what someone needs to hear when they know pioneering is not just what they do but who they are. 

if you want a flavour of it, i wrote an article using a part of the book for baptists together - a start in pioneer practice three questions to ask

if you have not got your copy yet where have you been??!! it's available from getsidetracked

it's up!

unlocked exhibition at ealing police station - photo by edmond terakopian

the last week has been so brilliant. our local photography group has had this crazy idea for an exhibition outside so that we knew people would be able to see it and feel safe. that thought led us to pondering whether we could use ealing police station as the canvas - that took a few creative leaps in itself. fast forward a year after thinking why not give it a go and unlocked is up! it looks incredible.

install of unlocked exhibition at ealing police station - photo by edmond terakopian

i am so proud of what the group has achieved. we have liased with police, fundraised, hired cherry pickers and installers, worked out what's need to clean a building and print on vinyl, curated a powerful set of images reflecting on the last 18 months and the moment we are in. seeing the building being jet washed in preparation and then the photos arriving and being installed at the beginning of last week felt so exciting.

install of unlocked exhibition at ealing police station - photo by edmond terakopian

this weekend we had the opening with a hundred or so photographers, sponsors, friends and family and some passers by stumbling across it. 

unlocked exhibition at ealing police station - photo by edmond terakopian

sometimes in an exhibition people say what's your favourite photo or whatever. but for me what i love about this is that it's about the whole. it's the impact of seeing all the photos together that has so many resonances of the last eighteen months. we hope it gives people a chance to look back and reflect and to look forward. i didn't want to post a photo before the opening as i liked the idea of a surprise for those coming. but now it's up and there are photos around i want a record of it on the blog. if you are in ealing do go and see it. if you are somewhere else in the world or country then here is gallery of the images which you can look through. click on a photo and you will get some info on it.

edmond terakopian who is a fellow member of the group took some wonderful photos of the install and of the police station with the images on that really gives you a feel for the scale of it which he has given me permission to post - all the photos in this blog post are his (thank you!)

i have loved being part of the planning group. thanks to ealing police for saying yes, to our sponsors gogar services, fujifilm, clarion futures and all the individuals who have given to support the project and especially to our photography group for being bonkers enough to think we might actually pull this off.