jonnybaker

the key

this is a photograph I have in the ealing lip group exhibition home which is part of BEAT 2019. it's a group show on the theme of home. this is the key to the front door of a home in jaffa for a palestinian family who had to flee their home in 1947 and have been unable to return. many palestinians who had to flee carried the key expecting to return of course. but now for them and for those whose homes have been destroyed the key has become perhaps both a memory of home and as a symbol of their longing for home. i imagine this is also the case for many who flee home from whatever country. i also took portraits of the friend whose grandparents house it is. but somehow the minimlaist nature of the key photograph was the one i chose. do visit the exhibition which is open every day until 15 sept.

on sat 14 sept i am giving a talk about the photograph and the theme of home at 4pm. i have been thinking about this and am likely if i have the courage to perform a couple of songs from the album backbone which i recorded after visiting palestine in 1998 - they will be acoustic rather than breakbeat versions. 

this month grace have been made homeless because work is being done at st mary's so grace will be coming to that talk, a visit to the exhibition and a meal afterwards nearby. message me if you are interested in coming to the meal and i can send you info. 

grief and hope

the fiesta festival in earlsfield was great - it was so good to meet amd learn from the wisdom of alastair macintosh. grace curated a space to reflect on hope and grief - flip sides of a prophet's imagination - or flip sides of the road to newness perhaps. i have added some photos in an album here. it was good to suspend a block of ice for an installation on grief - last time we did that was 2001 apparently!

grief and hope - grace at fiesta

looking forward to the next grace which is part of fiesta festival in earlsfield - note it's a differemt venue and time if you are a regular! here's the info... 

Join us as we grieve like prophets and dreamers for our broken world, and hope like prophets and dreamers for a different kind of future.

Note different venue and time - Grace will be 6:30pm at 'Riverside', Haldane Place, Wandsworth SW18 4UQ, as part of 'Fiesta' - see below for details of the festival as a whole.

People at the festival are coming as part of their festival ticket, but if you are just coming for Grace it is free. Just say you are a member of Grace when you arrive.

The legendary block of ice will be making its third appearance - last seen at Greenbelt 2001! Well obviously not the same block of ice.

hope to see you there

note venue change:the venue has changed to paradise cooperative, 19 heathfield road sw18 3je - opposite the entrance to wandsworth prison.

fiesta - pioneer festival in london in july

i'm looking forward to fiesta in london in july - a festival for pioneers, activists and others wanting to make their community a better place. it's being hosted by earlsfield friary and will be great food, music, spirituality, conversations and the like. book in here . grace are taking part on the sat night and i see harry and chris will also be performing. i am a big fan of alastair mcintosh who is going to be the resident wise elder for the weekend. 

space

everyone is welcome to join us at grace on 9th february for a service of meditation and silences, followed of course by a less silent café! this year our february service falls in a space between church seasons - christmas and epiphany are past, lent does not begin until march, so we find ourselves in an in-between place, a place to pause for quiet reflection.

a worship trick - flash paper

 

flash paper from jonny baker on Vimeo.

grace last night was a rather beautiful evening with a magical labyrinth and stations on themes of gold, frankincense and myrrh. i can't remember where i read about it but i came across flash paper which is a kind of paper magicians use in tricks - when you light it, it flares up and goes up in smoke in a flash. i took a very short video of it on my phone. so if magicians use it i guess it is probably as close to a worship trick as is possible! we used it at the myrrh station where people reflected on things to bury or get rid of or put to death in their life and then they went up in a flash!

grace new year labyrinth

another year of grace begins this next weekend - join us to walk a labyrinth

where will god be born? - advent coming up...

i always love the season of advent. love this flyer from steve for our grace advent service this year which will consist of a series of reflections, prayers, meditations, songs brought by whoever comes. if you plan to come do bring something to share in that way. it will all be followed by mulled wine and stollen. 

and i am not sure i should confess to this but if you look on the grace web site there is a link to a video from 1996 of grace on channel 4 which we dug out for the 25th celebration - it is fairly amusing/embarrassing!

grace silver

we had a wonderful celebration of 25 years of grace last night.

projections - fairy lights - tunes - 4 course feast - communion shared at the table - memories - toasts - stories - laughter - an amazing cake - 25 year old whisky - nostalgia - hope - gratefulness - friends - church - alternative worship - zine - late night

here's a few photos

grace xxv - the zine

steve collins has put together a 64 page zine for grace's 25th celebration. it's free to download as a pdf - we'll probably do a limited edition print run but haven't got oprganised for that yet. but it's a great collection of photos and memories - largely visual - and organised into sections on worship, people, technology, greenbelt, labyrinths, music and ethos. mike and i had fun selecting a few tunes from each year that have been on the grace playlist. who would have thought - two zines in a year?!

#gracesilverservice

grace - 25th anniversary!!!

it's hard to believe but november will see the 25th anniversary of grace. i wasn't there when it started but jen and i got involved when we moved to london in 1995. it has been an amazingly creative group of people with whom to share life and faith as we have sought to follow christ together in today's world. i'll save a longer post for nearer the time but i am so thankful to be part of it.

to celebrate we are having a meal/banquet. unusually we would like to know numbers in advance for the catering side of it so if you plan to come please can you let us know - email or leave a comment. if you have been part of grace's life over the 25 years do see if you could make it along - we'd love it to be a sharing of stories and memories, of thanks as well as hopes for the future as we are not done yet! 

(there is of course a grace service before that in october too)

labyrinth - a new design

it was a wonderful evening at grace with a new labyrinth designed by adam baxter and made in the afternoon from some cloth and gaffer tape. st mary's in ealing is a wonderful magical space for it and with candles flickering and a playlist of ambient tunes a prayerful meditative evening ensued... if you click on this link and scroll through you'll see some of the labyrinths we have made and run over the years. i think the first was back in 1998 or 1999. this labyrinth web site has lots of info if you're wondering about labyrinths

grace labyrinth this saturday

i'm looking forward to grace on saturday as it will be a labyrinth and it's a brand new design and mat that i haven't seen yet. there will be a cafe so you can sit and chat and then go and walk the labyrinth in your time at any point during the evening. 

the table - next grace april 14

next grace we are delighted to welcome friends from the table in southall. the table is a fresh expression of church that fits perfectly into southall's context gathering around the table over food and conversation and hospitality. friends from the table will be coming and  helping lead grace and cooking up some food southall style - one not to miss. don't eat before you come!

because we'll be catering we could do with knowing numbers so let us know if you are planning to come (if possible).

turn

well it's getting close to the season of lent. it's a time of year when grace, the community i am part of spend some time reflecting on what it means to follow christ in today's world. we'll be having a couple of grace services and then reading various things and discussing them over meals.

 

but if you are around london join us at grace on feb 10th for the first of two services exploring the themes of lent. themes for both are taken from words in the ash wednesday service ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to christ’. first up is ‘turn’ - face down your vices and join us in grace’s very own 3 step programme followed by grace café which will be serving up pancakes.

new year at grace

kick off the year with grace next saturday - a chance to reflect and meet others in the cafe afterwards. [i won't be there myself as it's harry and grace's wedding that day which i can't wait for!]

grace - tag

so it's a new season of grace. we kick off by making the most of the photo exhibition TAG that will be in the space. i'm at a wedding so can't be at grace sadly but the photos will be up for the services at st mary's on sunday 10th and i will be preaching using them as inspiration on 'the gift of sight' - come along 10:30 or 6pm if you're interested in that.

good - grace next saturday

Jeremiah 29:7: Work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.

Proverbs 11:11: Good people bless and build up their city, but the wicked can destroy it with their words.

What does good look like, in Ealing, in London, in the world? How does Grace support good and how do we support one another as we do good? What is God saying to us at this time? Join us for Communion, conversation and prayer.

grace retreat

did you know that there is an ignatian centre in london that hosts a retreat day on the second saturday of every month open to all? 

next grace we are joining them for the day - see here for info - so if you are planning on visiting grace next month it will simply be a cafe with a prayer space in the evening as the day is the main focus this month.

the god of unwelcome

Unwelcome!

God is here
His Spirit is with us
[but not with them]

so opened last night's provocative liturgy at grace responding to the usa and uk climates of fear and shoring up borders to those from other countries. the start was a liturgy of unwelcome which included the unveiling of an icon of the god of unwelcome which was a reworking of rublev but with the faces of trump, pence and bannon - it was disturbing! we had scriptures reassuring us that god is on our side and will destroy enemies and sang a song to the god of unwelcome which included these verses...

Excluding God
Excluding God
You love me
but not my neighbour
Excluding god

Unwelcoming God
Unwelcoming God
Close the door
Ring fence the table
Unwelcoming god

we then had take two which was a liturgy of welcome and included similar things. the highlight for me was meg wroe's amazing rework of rublev's icon with the three as migrants. we discussed together when we exclude and seem to follow a tribal god rather than the god of the whole world and all peoples recognising that there is a judge or pharisee in all of us as well as someone longing to be christlike with an open home and table. here is a link to the service in the grace archive including the unwelcome icon! and here is a pdf of it for anyone interested - it draws on several prayers, songs liturgy from other grace services. i really enjoyed and was challenged by the experience both of planning and then leading grace. and i long to follow in the way of the god and christ of welcome rather than whatever unholy gods seem to be centre stage right now. i am making this liturgy a worship trick - 69 in series 4.

[massive thanks to jon birch for the icon of unwelcome and meg wroe for the icon of welcome]