jonnybaker

put down your ipads and put on your ipatches!

kester holds forth on pirates on ted talks exeter...

i liked his book but never got round to reviewing it - especially the first half of the book and his exploration of the commons and beating the bounds. 

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?

putting people off coming to britain

at cms yesterday the pioneer students were looking at culture and identity in relation to englishness which is always a lot of fun. if you've not come across kate fox's watching the english it's a must read for anyone from another culture trying to work out why the english are so confusing! two things people pointed out were @soverybritish twitter account (ht: kim) with gems such as 

The unwelcome surprise of someone telling you how they are after you've asked them how they are

Saying you're pleased with your haircut despite the deep inner sadness it's causing you

and this series of posters in the guardian following the ministers rumoured negative advertising campaign to deter potential immigrants from comning to britain which i confess i found hilarious (ht: johnny)!

advanced social network

i rather like this which i spotted on james henley's blog though i have no idea of the original source...

mtv voices winner!

congrats harry on winning the mtv voices competition - listen here - it would take me a long time to spend £500 on itunes!!!

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. 

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…

click to light the olympic torch! wonderful...

joel was contacted by bibliotheque design and asked if he could turn this poster design into something animated for the olympic opening day. click on the torch to light the flame and then drag your mouse across the screen to move the flame - let the olympics begin!

nova chill

the creators of the original big chill festival have a new festival nova festival in the south downs from 5-8 july. i don't think i can make it. the big chill festival was bought by a bigger organisation and pretty quickly lost the wonderful vibe of the oriiginal festival so it's great to see something new landing...

solas festival 2012

i'm heading up to scotland again at the end of june for solas festival which you may remember me blogging and enthusing about last year. the line up is growing. rory butler and adam stearns who i picked out last year as highlights are both back. harry baker (!) is performing, along with the likes of ricky ross. this year i am giving a couple of talks. maybe see you there?

congrats joel!

joel is in his final year of graphic design and one piece of work this year was entering the D&AD annual student awards which are in a number of categories. he chose typography for which the brief was to create a series of typographic posters for the ministry of sound nightclub...

anyway congrats to joel for being nominated as best of year for his typeface and posters. the writing is envisaged to be made in neon - i can't help thinking some of these would look amazing made large in a church space. anyone out there ready to commission them?!

mobilefaith

i took part in a conference in austin in the run up to sxsw interactive exploring mobilefaith - how faith and practice can be animated, supported and enlivened with mobile technologies. it's a great question and always interesting to see how new media change a lot more than we initially expect. the highlight of the day ended up being texan bbq at rudy's after it was all over to unpack all the talks and talk about these changes more. we ended up discussing education, politics and religion in the new environment for quite some time!

i was last on and felt people had been sitting for a very long time but if anyone was there (or not) and is interested in the slides they are on slideshare here. i used some of the ideas i explored a while back in digimission if anyone remembers that. it was great to bump into paul soupiset again. he was sketchbooking notes which are simple but delightful. 

there were a few good lines thrown out in the day - one of my favourites was that the bible should be thought of not as a piece of content but a piece of community...

if anyone wanted the piece i read on the network of christ it is here. it was actually part of a series where i was reflecting on clay shirky's brilliant book here comes everybody - see also posts on sharing and collaboration , i participate therefore i am and its a small world 

to conclude the day i wrote a final piece of liturgy that went like this...

god of connection
your presence is always on

god of relations
to you we belong

god of community
you have called us friends

god of participation
your possibility never ends

send us out in the power of your spirit
with #mobilefaith
on an adventure of the imagination 
to join in where you already are

in the name of the Open Source
the Portal
and Flow

#amen  #isthishereticalorinspired

(thanks to karlie for the join in where you already are line which i 'borrowed' from here). it's about time i added some worship tricks so the #mobilefaith prayer is worship trick 18 series 4

international women's day

today is international women's day. there seem to be lots of creative pieces out there but the one that i ended up diving into was @applesandsnakes poetry collective twitter feed which simply posts links and gives voice to women poets. 

it was at the big chill festival a few years ago i stumbled into the spoken word tent to an event hosted by apples and snakes and two of the women i heard that day are linked to - follow the tweets but try jean binta breeze and zena edwards

if you are in austin...

i am heading over to austin for a week duing SXSW which should be fun. i am there from march 5 to 11. bob carlton is organising the trip and what's happening. it includes 

march 6 dreamers who do - a gathering with  emerging church type people 

march 8 mobile.faith - an event exploring how faith and practice can be enlivened with mobile technologies

march 10 - pause@sxsw practices for digital sabbath 

i was also very pleased to see radiohead on the schedule when it came through!!!

nelson

day 5 of catching up on reviewing books...

in case you think i only read books on mission here's something completely different that i read over christmas

nelson is a graphic novel with a twist - it's created by 54 uk artists/comic creators following the journey of nel from 1968 to the present with snapshots of days each year. if you are a similar age to me all the references will be very familiar. the range of styles of illustrations is amazing and even though there are so many contributors it flows and really works. i originally bought it as a birthday gift for joel earlier in the year but couldn't resist getting a copy myself! it's published by blank slate books and all proceeds go to the charity shelter.

if you are in london and like graphic novels there is an amazing new bookshop that opened last summer in soho goshlondon where you can go and have a browse of books like this.

wake up call for 2012

i always like the end of year and start of the next as a moment to pause and reflect. in fact tonight as a family we'll do that together round the meal table. whilst sometimes i focus on moments, films, music and the like (and i may well yet do that) it's impossible to reflect on 2011 without the first thing that springs to mind being the global revolutions of the arab spring with the toppling of regimes with more yet to come, and the financial challenges and shake ups going on in so many countries.

for me 2011 has felt like a wake up call, a huge reminder that the paradigm of liberal capitalism or whatever you want to call it runs on a logic that turns out to be an illogic - an illogic that panders to the wealthy and big corporations and leaves the poor washed up. the injustices in the system have got so glaringly huge fueled by greed that the whole thing appears to be at some sort of breaking point. i feel like i have got angry this year about this in a way that i haven't for quite a while. i am ashamed to say i had got used to things as 'normal' and become numb and blind to my own co-optedness even though i've never thought deep down that capitalism is a good way to run a country.

let me give two examples of this illogic - one which i have raged about already is the whole huge bonus culture in business and banking - how can it be logical to pay an individual 8 million pounds or whatever - it's an illogic! another is the revelation recently that the amount corporations have been let off of paying taxes after having lunch with the tax man adds up to 25 billion pounds - yes you read that right - 6 billion for example for vodafone. welcome to corporation tax avoidance whilst paying big salries and bonuses - the illogic of our version of capitalism!!!

to be awoken, to grieve, to get angry and to begin to dream of other possibilities has to be a good start. thank you to those who have protested in the likes of the occupy movements and those who have laid down lives in regimes of oppression to say enough is enough! here's to the to the poets, prophets and dreamers. i have changed the banner of my blog for the first time in a few years. this is so that every time i look at the blog i am going to be reminded that another system, another paradigm, another worldview, another way, indeed another world is possible.

i have been reading adbusters big issues of 2012 magazine which i thoroughly recommend. there are several articles online but is really worth getting the whole edition. the editorial laments the way that there has been a conceptual drought and calls for imagination. it's the first edition i have read for a while and i found it refreshing. there are some excellent articles such as this one on democracy by hardt and negri where they reflect on democraic constitutions and why the foundations on which they are built are insufficient, and begin to suggest some ways forward. they conclude with this...

To confront these issues, we, along with many others, have proposed possible initial steps, such as establishing a guaranteed income, the right to global citizenship, and a process of the democratic reappropriation of the common. But we are under no illusion that we have all the answers. Instead we are encouraged by the fact that we are not alone asking the questions. We are confident, in fact, that those who are dissatisfied with the life offered by our contemporary neoliberal society, indignant about its injustices, rebellious against its powers of command and exploitation, and yearning for an alternative democratic form of life based on the common wealth we share – they, by posing these questions and pursuing their desires, will invent new solutions we cannot yet even imagine. Those are some of our best wishes for 2012.

i couldn't agree more. i am so glad there are people dreaming a different dream. it's interesting soaking myself into adbusters after a while away from it. one of the challenges with this kind of rhetoric when the world is actually shifting away from just protest to genuinely needing new paradigms, is where are they to be found?! what is a vision for running a society in a different way? i confess i was a bit surprised by a few articles suggesting a new sort of communism - i know zizek is all the rage in these circles - but really?!

the article that i found most interesting of all was fear of flying by darren fleet. in this he dares the left to take a look in the mirror and suggests a creeping truth that

activism has become a mask for spiritual and character rot, that we have erected a progressive facade to cover the worst of our denials... if behind closed doors we cannot be free what possibility do we have of offering anything to our world?

and later in the article...

We have all seen it. Maybe we are even these archetypes ourselves. The close-minded open-minded person. Well versed in emancipation and cutting edge lefty rhetoric but altogether intolerable, anal, pedantic, arrogant, rude and fully convinced they know what is best for society. Or the idealist who hops from cause to cause, virulently condemning a belief they wholeheartedly embraced only a short time ago, trying to convert you to direct your energy toward the latest paradigm. Or the usual suspect protesters manifesting a collective oppositional defiance disorder against anything and anyone representing vague concepts of power. Their own lives might be in shambles, without spiritual relief, entirely unable to define their action beyond a sentence, but that does not matter to their leaders. What has become tantamount in activism today is collective, organized action, however weak, regardless of the motivation or the emotional/spiritual source of that action. The left must have more to offer than this. It needs the righteous confidence of the right without the pride and arrogance. It needs the confidence of Evangelicals and the commitment of Islamists without the delusion and apologetics. It needs emancipation. It needs a newfound spiritualism that places a premium on personal enlightenment and monasticism. It needs, in a word, liberation.

wow - an article that looks to the power of transformation through attention to one's own soul - a new found spiritualism and monasticism even gets a mention! i really think there is some wisdom here. we need a new kind of leadership that has deep integrity at its heart.

where will you look for answers in 2012? i confess reading adbusters helped me realise i am more convinced than i have ever been in my life that a good place to start is with the astonshing person and prophet jesus christ. if only i can and i suggest we need communities who can (because individualism is part of our illogic) live and embody a life that follows in some measure the vision and values of another kingdom that he imagined, spoke and demonstrated. i still don't see too many other places to look.

if you want a take on jesus life to get you started for 2012 try luke johnson's commentary on luke-acts prophetic jesus prohetic church which is totally brilliant, one of about 20 books i have meant to review on the blog and not got round to! there's an excerpt here if you want a flavour.

may 2012 be a year in which you experience being woken up and your imagination enlivened to dream that new worlds are possible.

may you pursue that dreaming together with others in conversation, around meal tables, in bars and schools and workplaces and blogs and communities and churches.

may you create in response - a new life, new art, new community, new politic, new humanness, a new way to live.

and may you find friendship, kindness and inspiration from jesus the prophet

happy new year!

i decided not to save the world...

i was at the tate last weekend and this ad for an exhibition caught my eye and made me smile... apply it to whatever area of life or institution you wish!

uk slam champ

last night jen and i went along to the uk slam poetry final run by farrago in london. a slam is a type of event rather than a style of poetry where each contestant gets to perform for 3 minutes. judges then give scores and contestants then go through to the next round and then get another 3 minutes slot. last night's contestants were made up of people who took part in an open mic early on in the evening and then winners of previous slams (london, south of england etc.) and there were contestants from scotland and wales. anyway the BIG NEWS if you didn't see it on my twitter or facebook is that our very own harry baker won so is the UK poetry slam champion 2011!!

the divided brain

it was a complete delight earlier this year to have the treat of listening to iain mcgilchrist speak on the brain. there are not many times i have sat in the presence of someone whose gift is clearly to research for their whole life and further you think that is exactly what they should be doing. he has written a book the master and his emissary which explores the brain and the two hemispheres. this book has very much reawoken interest in this area. i have been meaning to blog about it for quite some time but my notes were excessively complex so how to blog? well having delayed and delayed has proved to be a good idea because it turns out there is an RSA animation of him summarising the work. it is a bit complex in places but honestly pour a drink and sit back for ten minutes and think about what he's saying and what it might mean. i am very intersted in this idea of two kinds of attention - one that is focused and grasping and nailing things down, and one that is unknowing and broad and intuitive. what might that mean for the kinds of theologies and spiritualities we see played out in the christian church for example?

 

so i wasn't the only one...

so it turns out that with my naive suggestion i am not the only one thinking that dealing with the obscene salaries is a serious issue. i had suggested setting a salary cap above which people could then earn more and choose whether to invest it in arts, health, charity - something on the lines of transformation for good. doing so would overnight change our economics. this idea wil not go away out of my head. in fact i am getting more and more wound up about peoples' so called earnings and their supposed individual right to such earnings. i enjoyed the letter in today's guardian from les farris which said

Can we stop referring to "earnings" to describe the ludicrous sums looted from the economy by "top" people. The terms "trousered", "pocketed", "walked  way with", "snaffled" or the simple "received" would be more appropriate. Nobody "earns" those levels of income.

that about says it! a report has just been published on high salaries and how they have escalated in the last 30 years so that the gap between high and low earners in a companby is wider than ever. in barcalys for example it is 75 times with top earners getting 4.5 million pounds in a year - yes a year. why do we tolerate this as a society? is this the sort of world we want to live in? it's completely absurd and indefensible.

the reason i mention it again is partly because of the report but also this indicator in companies of the differential in pay as a multiplier of the lowest to highest earner. a friend lis at grace pointed out that there is quite a discussion in places to suggest that a good move would be to curb this at 20 times. this still seems huge to me as someone who works in the charity sector but i guess it would be good to see footballers at chelsea earn a maximum of 20 times the recepionist or equivalent! it's certainly a step in the right direction.

the phrase i keep coming back to from st pauls occupy protest is the phrase another world is possible which is on tape all round the camp. in this area it surely is!