jonnybaker

cms twenty: worship tricks

this is the fifth of a series of short reflections celebrating twenty years at cms

see also  1. gold | 2. emerging church | 3. blah | 4. new forms 

as well as being at cms twenty years i had another twentieth anniversary this year which somehow passed me by. that is how long i have been writing a blog. i was persuaded by andrew jones that i should write one and began on blogger and my first entry was in april 2002. one of the first things i started was a series of worship tricks. the name is a bit naff but they were creative ideas, installations, rituals, liturgy, videos that i came across that could be shared. back then search engines were not so good so having linkages was helpful. it also helped me catalogue things i could return to. there are 4 series - see the sidebar for links to them on the right. they have completely slowed down over the last few years (or decade even) but occasionally i add another. the thing that interests me about them looking back is that i have always loved creative, soulful, artful worship. i have published more in that area than anything else i think - alternative worship, curating worship, chapters in other books, labyrinth kit, the pocket liturgy series with proost, various albums and so on.

fresh expressions and pioneering (more on those in later posts in this series) rightly brought different start points from alternative worship - listening, being present, getting involved in community things. growing a community of disciples and finding ways to express worship come a lot later. so it interests me how i have carried that thread right the way through. i still think it's important - there is something magical about an experience or expression of worship that feels like it is on the inside of a culture, that you can be totally at home in. and at some basic level i think i have also been passionate about it because i struggle with expressions of worship that are done by the book or have blocks of singing with songs you can predict and make no connection imaginatively with the context, or that simply feel alien. the added value at cms has been learning from the global church and seeing places where indigenous expressions of worship and liturgies emerged as opposed to imposed western ones. the description of the mass with the masai in vincent donavon's christianity rediscovered blew my mind i seem to remember.

i haven't checked but i expect many of the links in worship tricks are broken or disappeared (and i have no intention to fix them) and the worship tricks are dated though no doubt some still ring true. but the delight of those creative moments and offerings is still there and i hope to stumble across many more going forward and i long for more people to have the courage to create. i have taught the worship module for pioneers at cms and that has been a great joy too seeing them explore what worship could look and be like in the communities they are among.

it has been incredible to be a part of a small creative church all the time i have been at cms - grace in ealing. there are so many beautiful prayers and liturgies and rituals that have nurtured my theology and faith that have then made their way into worship tricks, been shared at cms with pioneers, been picked up round the world. what a gift that has been. i have always thought the church's liturgy should be open source - downloadable, able to be remixed and uploaded for others to rework. i hope that's what people do with the worship tricks. the availability of communication technology has certainly made that possible though on balance i find the church still seems to prefer control to trusting its people and the creative process.

cms twenty: new forms

this is the fourth of a series of short reflections celebrating twenty years at cms

see also  1. gold | 2. emerging church | 3. blah 

my memory of dates is somewhat hazy but greenbelt festival played significant host to creative engagement with new forms of worship and church going back quite a way. i picked up the baton from doug gay in the early 2000s round the time greenbelt landed at cheltenham racecourse and took on co-ordinating it as a volunteer with help from a host of other people - sue wallace, gayle findlay, sonia mainstone, ben edson, ian mobsby and others. doug had co-ordinated worship for the festival hitherto and was one of the pioneers of the late late service which was truly ground breaking back in the day. bear in mind alternative worship had a decade under its belt by the time i picked up the role.

it's probably worth a pause to recap how movements worked back then. if you wanted to get involved in alternative worship there was a photocopied magazine -  i think it was called re:sonate with stories and articles but crucially it had a list of groups, people and phone numbers on the back so you could get in contact and go and visit them. there were a few weekend gatherings too but it meant meeting at greenbelt was very precious because it wasn't possible to just chat online and visit someone's web site. one of the first online forums i remember was an email list called postmodern christian which subsequently morphed into other things. hardly anyone had web sites or knew how to access them. it was oldish tech but there was something magical about dial up that connected you into this other world of conversation with people exploring theology and practice in postmodern culture. i can still hear that dial up sound in my head!

but back to the early 2000s and by then it had moved on a bit. cheltenham racecourse had lots of indoor rooms and as long as you could kit them out your self it was easy enough to host a venue or two. we ended up for a good run of hosting two - new forms and new forms 2. the latter was more of an installation venue where the labyrinth made its appearance. 

cms were gracious enough to let me do this as part of my job in those early years. cms had been partners themselves at greenbelt for many years anyway.

i was reminded recently of new forms by paul northup, the greenbelt programme director. he interviewed nadia bolz weber for the greenbelt podcast and she said how significant new forms had been for her and others visiting from other parts of the world. he was musing on that. with the new connectivity it became host to people and groups from round the world - new zealand, germany, america, australia, ireland, scotland, england. greenbelt was the perfect host because it loved new ideas, art, theology, practice, risk taking and so on. i bumped into alex and kat at this year's greenbelt and we were remembering the cyber feminist eucharist that they led - where else would you get that?!. 

steve collins site smallfire has plenty of photos of that era - this photo is from a grace service on the theme of desert where we suspended a block of ice from scaffolding as you do! he describes the move to cheltenham and what ensued as follows:

This enabled the creation of 'New Forms', a dedicated alternative worship venue with a full sound and audiovisual setup and a rolling programme of worship events and related talks. Many of the events on this site took place in New Forms. During the 2000s Greenbelt was a major showcase for creative worship and a place for practitioners from all over the world to get together.

it was a fun time for sure!

the reason it's been on my mind for a season now is that i think we could do with making visible new forms still. i don't mean the venue and those groups. but i think it would be valuable to see and hear more stories from the edges. i was thinking who i could think of and there are a quite a few in and around the edges of pioneering - new forms such as revs , sacred bean coffee, church gathered around boxing, mountain pilgrims, the table and so on. there must be lots more. i came across a new form called grace notes through chatting with jed at greenbelt this year which i did not know about (i'll blog about that another time and hope to pay it a visit). i still really like the name new forms too....

[update: since writing this i found i had listed in 6 blog posts the various worship things happening which is quite an incredible read - what a feast in one year - see greenbelt worship part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 - that was 2004! part 2 and part 3 are the new forms venues.]

wolf fields labyrinth

over the years i have been involved along with others in grace in making a whole range of labyrinths. in 2000 we installed one in st pauls cathedral which went on to be toured round the country and translated into an online interactive version and then turned into a kit format in the USA. we have run various ones at grace. and this has included mowing a range of patterns - my blog post here from 2006 on how to mow a grass labyrinth has proved popular. anyway all that is to say it was a delight last weekend to be at the opening/launch of the wolf fields labyrinth in southall. we were invited to partner with arocha uk and the table community at st johns to create an outdoor labyrinth. steve collins came up with the design and it was made by clearing the area, putting down a membrane and then painting the pattern on that. the paths were then created by using small wooden stakes and the paths filled with wood chippings. there are a few flower beds en route. it has all come out rather well. i took the photo above but steve coillins has documented it in this photo album here which gives you the idea of how it was made from start to finish. thanks to idina dunmore for inviting us.

of course that has to go as a worship trick...

mike riddell

i was so sorry to hear of mike riddell's death this weekend. it was a long time since i had seen him of course as we live on other sides of the world. but he was a gentle, creative, kindred spirit and fellow traveller in exploring faith. he was a writer/poet/liturgist. when alternative worship was happening in the uk mike, mark pierson and steve taylor were exploring similar questions and adventures in new zealand through parallel universe and the like. our worlds collided online through email forums and blogs in the days of dial up!

i was thinking of memories of mike...

he was in the uk doing a few things - i remember getting him to do things for or with CMS, and possibly brainstormers and he visited greenbelt too - in 1997 i think but possibly other times too. he happened to be visiting us one time in ealing when the matrix first came out so we went to see that together with a few others from grace - that must have been 1999! this is pre-blogging days so i can't check the archive to see exactly what we did when!

mike wrote a little book called godzone which i loved - so much so that i bought 50 to give away. it was telling a story of faith and spirituality in very fresh language with stories and parables. the one i remembered that i have retold many times as it is such a great flip at the end is...

God walked into heaven and discovered everyone was there. This didn't seem fair as some of them had done terrible things in life. So everyone was summoned before God where an angel read the ten commandments. When the first commandment was read God said 'Everyone who has broken this commandment will have to leave.' The same happened with each of the other commandments. By the time the angel had finsihed reading the seventh there was hardly anyone left. God looked up and saw a small group of grim self righteous ascetics looking very smug. For a few minutes God considered the prospect of eternity with them and then shouted out 'Alright everyone come back!' The religious group were furious saying 'we have wasted our lives.' 

threshold of the future was a wonderful book - the chapter in there on acts 10 captured the paradigm shift in mission as well as anything i have read before or after and the notion of the 'sin of holiness' has stuck with me ever since. i pretty much collected anything mike wrote - a pamphlet of liturgies, the prodigal project, alt spirit, god's homepage, deep stuff, sacred journey, imagining anew - a pdf of reflections he published on facebook in the pandemic.

he wrote some lovely prayers and liturgy. i was trying to find some earlier fairly unsuccessfully but i think this invitation to the table which i found in an old grace communion liturgy is borrowed from mike...

The table of Jesus is your place of gathering
Here you are welcomed, wanted, loved
Here there is a place set for you

So come all you who thirst,
All you who hunger for the bread of life
All you whose souls cry out for healing

Come all you who are weary
All you who are bowed down with worry
All you who ache with the tiredness of living

Come all you poor
All you who are without food or refuge
All you who go hungry in a fat land

Come all you who are lost
All you who search for meaning but cannot find it
All you who have no place of belonging

i remember going to a launch event of the film the insatiable moon which mike wrote and worked with pip piper on...

my world is definitely richer for my path crossing with mike's. so sorry for his departing this life and for family and friends who will miss him so much.

 

walk a labyrinth this saturday

i have always loved labyrinths since i was first introduced to them by kev and ana draper back in the nineties! this year should see a new one land at wolf fields as we (grace) are creating an outdoor one there for friends in southall. it should be ready by easter i imagine - you can see progress above.

but meantime as seems to be our wonderful habit there will be a labyrinth at grace this saturday - it's a pretty easy thing to remain socially distanced on as we are small in number. do join us. 

nine - grace this saturday

we've had a lot of fun at grace with nine over the years - respinning the traditional readings and carols with nine readings and tunes. it will be live in ealing at st mary's but it will also be online - hybrid and all that. if you want to join online let me know and i can send the link.

liturgies for the planet

in imagining mission with john taylor there is a chapter called 'enough is enough' which reflects on mission in relation to consumer culture and its impact on the planet. In that we say

We need new liturgies, prayers, songs, theologies, and rituals that articulate connection with the soil. We should lament with sorrow the loss of species and the planet’s warming, and pray and work for its healing and renewal.

of course we need action too, which is also a form of worship. but i am interested in what you might be doing to pray or make an articulation in worship that fits this moment when COP26 is about to take place and we hold our breath to wonder what actions will come out to help us as a world community.

if you have something do message me - leave a comment or email. i will post suggestions and links here.

a few to get the ball rolling.

lectio365 have a series starting nov 1 (which will remain up) of daily reflections 

the planetary mass is still a wonderful liturgy

little spaces of hope collates some prayers and reflections from amos trust who held a climate summit and includes a climate justice liturgy at the end and some other lovely pieces too.

the next grace is the day after COP26 ends and we will be sharing bread and wine using the planetary mass liturgy which still feels so poignant. there will be space for prayer, lament and reflection. 

 

still curating worship

it's funny how things come round again. i published a book on curating worship some years back and it was based on interviews with people doing wonderful creative things trying to get at what it was that helped them in pulling together worship events. some months back i was invited by the diocese of bath and wells  to curate a celebration in bath abbey of their lay ministries. they have a passage of scripture (colossians 3 in the message translation) that they have been reflecting on all year which involved the idea of putting on clothes as a metaphor for the kind of life you might live. so we invited lou baker to be an artist involved in the celebration and she added to four clothing rails throughout. those attending had been invited to bering something that represented them to add to the rails. it was a simple idea but because it was big it created a really good visual centrepiece for the event.

afterwards i was celebrating with pioneer students who had completed the pioneer certificate in the holy rumpus which was fun. 

then midweek i took a workshop/webinar for a group of koreans online on the subject of curating worship. it's kind of weird that the idea translates across the world. but it was a really enjoyable session and they seemed to be quite energised by it. i had sent something in advance that was translated but you could feel the interest and energy in the questions. it was great to hear one story of how curating worship had inspired a very participative approach to one online exploration of worship from one attendee. i took a screen grab which is a visual with an outline of a service online. for some reason it looks very cool in another language!

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

sacred bean eucharist and other follow up from prospect farm

thanks to anyone who came to the session in the long barn at greenbelt's prospect farm. here's some follow up info.

imagining mission with john taylor is here - i loved working on it. john taylor really sparked my imagination and we have tried to write in the same creative vein and i hope it will spark your imagination if you dive into it. each chapter ends with exercises on creativity you can try out.

pioneer practice is here - this is a mix of stories and very short practical articles - ideal if you have an idea to work on, and ideal for a group to use together to dream up something. it's full colour - there are sample pages on the web site. the discount code i gave out will work until friday. if you have forgotten or weren't there and want to know get in touch.

thanks to jo howie for taking part in the session and telling the story of sacred bean. go look at their web site and order some coffee! and as i said in the session we have added the wonderful sacred bean eucharist to getsidetracked - simply click on the page spread that says sacred bean eucharist which is in pioneer practice. i am sure jo would love to hear how you get on with that so do message me or her about it. i am making that a worship trick - remember those? it would be about 86 in series 4....

jo wrote that liturgy as part of a worship module at cms on the pioneer training essentially thinking how you might create a ritual/liturgy that reflected the culture of the community gathered around sacred bean. the training is wonderful - do have a look at the pioneer mission leadership training web site here. it's quite late for this year! but we have certificate, diploma, BA, MA, DTh options as well as simply picking modules to do. there are now quite a few options online as well. if you are interested for this year get in touch immediately! we also have hubs round the country offering training which is not accredited - again see the web site for those.

and thanks to ali for coming and sharing about the social supermarket and other adventures getting going in rotherham.

above all i hope it sparked your imagination around what you might be able to participate in or catalyse.

curating worship is published in korea

i was so chuffed today when the korean edition of curating worship dropped on the doormat. i love the cover. it was published here in 2010 so it's quite a surprise that it's got a new lease of life. having said that i love curation as a way of approaching worship and there are some wonderful conversations with people about their amazing creative practice in it which without doubt was ahead of its time. i hope it sparks some creative things in korea. a huge thank you to hong-il kim who was the person who first invited me to korea, keyongmoon kim for friendship and believing in the book and publishing it (and the others - this is the fourth book i now have had published in korea!). also big thanks to younha hwang for translating it. and to the brendan insititute for their commitment to pioneering in korea.

it will be solved by walking - next grace

next saturday's grace is a walk and talk - it starts at 2:30pm and will end up with a drink in richmond outside. do join us - there will be some reflections en route but having met online for so long it will be nice to see people in person. i assume there isn't a breakdown in relations between ealing and richmond - i.e. the flyer is meant to say meditation! anyway details on the grace website

sacred cows and sweet teeth - interview on v12 podcast

i was interviewed recently by david cotterill for the V12 podcast. it was good fun and the topic we were talking about was worship and the adventure of making that in creative ways that relate to the culture(s) of those outside of the church. you can find it on whatever your preferred podcast podcast app is - but here's a link on google or here's one on spotify

i got an email this week from someone asking me about how you navigate the liturgy and rubrics of your denomination or church in relation to pioneering with groups who won't relate easily to that - i sent a link to this interview as an answer. it made me realise that whilst some of us who were involved in alternative worship back in the day - navigating the contours of faith in the postmodern turn, these questions are still very pertinent and new to others. in some ways worship has been backgrounded or at least put layter in the mission process but it is still an essential component to explore. hope this helps if that is your question.

grace low sat night

grace sat night

The Sunday after Easter is known as Low Sunday. Maybe it’s the lull after Easter? This is the season of the stories of resurrection, but Low Sunday is often associated with Thomas and his doubt. He is a reassuring disciple. We don’t meet on Sunday but we thought we’d go with the fLOW anyway.

So do come along to Grace this Saturday to reflect on stories of doubt and absence, and stories of hope and presence. We will be on Zoom - do get in touch if you would like the link.

grace space this saturday

a quiet reflective grace this saturday. it will be on zoom but no breakout groups or anything for those not so keen on that! get in touch if you want to join so we can send you the zoom link.

proost still going strong - free downloads

proost is still going strong i am pleased to say hosted as it is now by space to breathe. there are two recent books that are available as free downloads or you can buy as printed books

the first is a collection of liturgies collated by heather cracknell for fresh expression called opening the doors. mark berry, ruth wells, tim watson and dorothy woods are the contributors so i am sure it is good. i gave printed copies to a couple of people at christmas.

the second is the long promised return? by tim watson, a set of poems and prayers written in the latest lockdown. i have just downloaded it. 

i also noticed future present is currently in the free downloads section so if you have never got yourself a copy of that it's definitely worth getting hold of.

editing and remixing - jesus and the powers take 2

i seem to be on a liturgy theme this week. so in that vein one of the most natural things to do when crafting prayers, liturgy, a service is to play with the words to make them fit well with the context and with the moment. with technologies of cut and paste this is of course so easy to do. so i was delighted when martin wroe who is a wonderful poet and writer and crafter of words sent me a rework of the communion prayer jesus and the powers that i wrote in july - st luke's holloway have used it in their worship.

if you want or need a practical theology frame of reference or two for this doug gay in his book remixing the church has a brilliant schema of audit | retrieval | unbundling | sampling | remixing and pete ward in introduction to practical theology talks about the processes of remembering | absorbing | noticing | selecting/editing | expressing.

that's not to say everything needs to be messed with - some things are beautifully made and crafted and are artful in their own right. but in the tradition i am in there is not enough play - there is an assumption that there are the 'right words' to use which often ends up being one more area of defendedness rather than open source gift of a tradition that is alive. the reality i suspect is that everyone gets on and remixes anyway - i hope so. most weeks i listen to craig charles funk and soul show on bbc 6 music which is an interesting comparison. the tradition, the old classics get played again and again but they also forever being played with, remixed, reworked, resurfaced. the tradition is a living thing.

martin's email ended by saying

I’ll probably remix it more as time passes… probably you’ll remix it too

exactly! anyway all that to say here is martin's latest remix of the eucharist prayer i wrote back in july. see what you think and by all means download, edit, remix, sample and upload/share...

The Prayer of Thanks 

The Lord be with you.
All And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
All We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All It is right to give God thanks and praise

We give thanks for your life, on this earth, walking by our side.
How you announced a new heaven and a new earth, found at the margins of this world,
an offensive against the strongholds of oppression, the dawn of liberation.

With signs of healing and deliverance
You proclaimed news of another commonwealth,
you chose a life of nonviolent confrontation with the powers of the age.
You restored wholeness to the sick
and those called impure.

You tore down the boundaries of tribe, gender and sexuality
of black and brown and white,
All the walls we build to exclude those whose difference makes us uncomfortable.

You overturned the dynamics of status and honour,
insider and outsider.

With you there is no longer male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile.
Patriarchy, slavery and racism have no place in your new world.
All are made in the divine image,
Everyone included in the revolution
where the last are first.

The powers that be opposed you
We still do.
You chose love over fear.

You were put to death,
lynched and hung on a tree.

In the great reversal of all history,
on the cross you overcame the powers of this world and broke the power of death.

You sang a song of a new heaven and a new earth.

And with angels and saints and all who walk your way.
Still, we join with you, in that song...

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth
are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

When we forget this song, remind us of the tune.

When we lose sight of your way, guide us.
When we despair and are overwhelmed,
send your Spirit to comfort us.

You call us to a conversion of heart,
to turn away from the seductions of empire,
To turn towards a new heaven and earth,
a community of resistance and healing,
gathering at a table where you promise to meet us.

God of all life,
lighten our path to your new commonwealth,
when there is bread and wine, shelter and security,
for all people in all places
when the good earth breathes easy again
and violence and greed are made history.

May our homes be open, our tables welcome,
May this table today be such a place.
May we live from love and not fear.

Gracious God, present with us now in every place and time,
bless this bread and wine with the presence of Jesus.

Great is the mystery of faith:

Christ has died:
Christ is risen:
Christ will come again.

Among friends, gathered round a table,
Jesus took bread; and when he had blessed it, he broke it and said,

‘Take this and eat it. It is my body. It is given for you.
...Do this to remember me.’

Then later, during the meal,
he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he said,
‘In this cup is the new relationship with God made possible because of my death.
...Take this, all of you, to remember me.’

We break this bread
To share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body because we all share in one bread.

So come to this table,
you who have much faith
and you who would like to have more;
you who have been here often
and you who have not been for a long time; you who have tried to follow Jesus
and you who feel you have failed;

All Welcome.
It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

seeds of hope

following up on yesterday's post, another really wonderful book of reflections, prayers and liturgies is seeds of hope. this is produced by amos trust, a charity focused on human rights, justice and solidarity. it's in a similar space to liturgies from below organised into sections such as solidarity, protest, planet. i got it for christmas and am reading it through it daily. i am going to make that and liturgies from below the two books i use to pray and reflect during lent this year. it's also only £10. there is something really good about organisations/movements like amos trust articulating their spirituality. it began as a series of daily reflections in lockdown but it's great they have turned it into a book.

liturgies from below

this book is simply brilliant. you have to get it! one of our students put me on to it last week and i ordered it straight away and it does not disappoint. if you want to get a feel for it and indeed access lots of the liturgies for free head to reimagingworship.com . these are liturgies in the context of empire written from its margins in places of oppression, poverty, injustice. it's a project of the council of world mission.

i write and curate liturgies and love that in grace the community i am part of that is part of what we do rather than just take worship off some centralised shelf. as i have reflected on why that is impotant i have come over the years to think of liturgy as world making. we live in a world and indeed church that is run on particular logics and imaginaries. where do we find spaces where the world gets unmade and remade? where dominant narratives get subverted and resisted? one place is the arts. but another should be the church. this collection is most definitely world making. as sudipta singh says in the preface

the book is an invitation to resist the temptation to be co-opted by the empire and to find the nerve to come out of the empire creating counter imperial alternatives

honestly this book is so refreshing. so much worship and liturgy can frankly be vacuous. this is anything but. 

i submitted my communion prayer on jesus and the powers and it has been accepted on the web site which i am pretty chuffed about too. it feels an honour to contribute to such a project.

one thing that is intriguing is that there are two covers and subtitles - one is praying with people at the ends of the world and the other is prayers in defiance of empire. i love both but the one that arrived for me has the former - does that mean that the uk and usa can't cope with the second title? i have no idea...

thank you to claudio carvalhaes who is the artful curator of this collection and project.

re:lentless

grace this saturday getting ready for lent. here's the blurb 

It feels like we have been in Lent for a year, and we haven't even got to Lent yet!

February is the depths of winter, but it is also a time when the first signs of spring begin to show - signs easily missed, hope that is still a long way from fulfilment. What have we learned from the journey? How have we been changed? Nothing will be the same, but how do we want to be different?

The service itself will be in Zoom. Look out for the link if you are in the Whatsapp group or on the email list, or email [email protected] and we will send you the link nearer the time.

Things you will need for the service:

• Images or words that represent things you want to leave behind in this desert time.
• a candle
• some salt

The cafe will take place in the Grace space in Gather that we used for last month's service - now we have it, we can hang out there! Many of you will have the link already from last month, but we will send it out again at the time. (NB Gather works best in the Chrome browser. It doesn’t work on a phone - you need to be on a computer.)