jonnybaker

learning to love - proost poets at greenbelt

there are so many new things at the moment which is fun! learning to love is a remarkable collection of poetry curated by chris goan. it's been a huge undertaking and has around 100 poets and 300 poems in it. it was a simple idea of chris' a while back and we put the word out that if there were poets interested in publishing to send proost poems. well that quickly became huge. but after sifting and organising, an amazing anthology is the result. i'm so grateful to chris and everyone who has contributed. lots of the poets are publishing for the first time in print i think. it's organised around themes such as protest or the world is broken or the far horizon. if you know any anthologies i guess it's closest in spirit to the series by neil astley - staying alive, being human. 

anyway it's just come out on proost. it's available in the greenbelt bookshop. poets themselves can get copies if you know them. and you can order it direct through lulu.com . as ever it's also a pdf download through proost. but i have found that this kind of book i prefer to have a physical copy in my hand. i have actually read all through it twice now.

there is a slot each morning at 9am in the leaves venue at greenbelt to kick start the day of reflections by proost poets that chris is pulling together. do drop in to that.

as well as the contributers to this collection another exciting new thing is that poet harry baker has teamed up with musician chris read to create a 4 track ep but in silence. they are going under the name flock and the ep is available on proost. this is a really beautiful blend of prayerful spoken word artistry coupled with soulful music and song. it's called but in silence. i'll add the link here when it's up... but they will also be performing each morning in the proost poets slots.

i love poets! not just because one is in the family but there is something about this mode of speech that is poignant, direct, soulful, and somehow the language of prophets. when i'd read the anthology i was so inspired by the range of voices, the freedom of speech, the ability to say stuff that needs to be said but that somehow never makes it into sermons and worship songs. there is this undercurrent of voice that needs to be heard. i particularly love the section in the book called the far horizon... anyway have a look and see what you think!

pioneers and cms at greenbelt

last year a highlight at greenbelt for me was connecting with lots of people who are imaginative building new things out of what they see - what we call pioneers and there was a great party/gathering one evening where we were happy to provide free drinks. well the good news is there is another this year on sunday night at 9pm also combining with celebrating a couple of new books out including the pioneer gift. but there is also a stack of other things that might be of interest which cms are involved with. download an invite to the party here which you need to bring for a free drink. and here is a link to the various things cms are doing - i'm actually first up on friday evening at 9pm talking about the prophetic imagination. if you want to chat about anything pioneering then i'll be spending the weekend meeting people for coffee or beer in the tiny tea tent or jesus arms no doubt! leave me a message or go to the cms stand in g-source.

grace at greenbelt

join grace at greenbelt in the orpheus installation on saturday between 10am and 8pm (though not between 11am and 1pm whn you should be in the allotment gallery at my photography exhibition!). i don't think this is listed in the greenbelt diary so make a note of it...

the Presence of silence - a pop up solo photography exhibition at greenbelt festival

if you are coming to greenbelt festival at the end of august i have a photography exhibition in the allotment gallery (a glorified shed i think!). it is only up for 2 hours (during which time i will be there) - think of it as private view. come along between 11am and 1pm on the saturday. it's called the Presence of silence.

some of you may remember a series of blog posts on the theme of silence which is the backdrop to this exhibition - see on silence [1] - fragile poet | on silence [2] - in the Presence of Silence | on silence [3] - ineffable and inephotographable | on silence [4] - individually guided retreats | on silence [5] - soul work | on silence [6] - words to ponder

hope to see you there! i'll post about other stuff i'm up to at greenbelt another time...

cms and greenbelt launch missional entrepreneurship competition

excited to announce that cms and greenbelt are launching a missional entrepreneurship competition. get your idea in and then be ready to work it up and make a dragon's den style pitch at greenbelt festival!

 

greenbelt has a new home

greenbelt has a new home in northamptonshire - boughton house

how to be an urban cyclist

jen's talk from greenbelt on how to be an urban cyclist is online

greenbelt conversations about pioneering and mission - and a party invite

just back from two weeks holiday which was wonderful including cycling from the south to north coast of devon, visiting friends en route and then staying in n devon which is an amazing part of the world. i took a few photos which i'll add at some point. but it's back into work and getting ready for greenbelt. hope to see a load of you there!

cms are hosting the kitchen venue this year. this is a space deisgned for conversation rather than long presentations or talks. cms began with the clapham sect gathered around a teapot in clapham planning the abolition of slavery and the founding of cms amongst other things. so we hope in the same way that conversation around a teapot today can be equally as catalytic and infused. 

saturday, sunday and monday are themed on community, pioneering and justice - this all ties in with greenbelt's theme of new beginnings. i am hosting the sunday on pioneering with andrea campanale. the overall programme for the kitchen is here and sunday's programme is below. it's deliberately not named full of high profile people to draw crowds - the idea is that it is converstion about practice of mission. do come and join in.

for those of you who are pioneers - sunday is the day though i think you'll like the rest. sunday evening we are having a party/gatrhering for pioneers at 9pm - drinks and nibbles will be provided so do come to that - we want to pack the place and catch up with pioneers far and near. you can download a flyer here which doubles up as a driinks voucher.

if you are interested in pioneer training with cms i will be around all weekend - head to the cms tent or stand and they can arrange a time if i am not there. believe it or not, it's not too late to sign up for the year ahead.

looking forward to it...

greenbelt 40 trailer

the magical union chapel did not disappoint

ADVENTurous on saturday was a wonderful day. i hope it is the first of many - a regular advent festival like this exploring poignant themes, celebrating advent, fused with the arts in london would be amazing. i was photographer for the day and have added a set of photos here - see slideshow here.

this photo is the lead singer of hope and social wandering into the crowd literally unplugged - up on a pew (which he politely asked permission for!!) singing and hand aloft to the cavern of the chapel. it was a really magical moment. it was also almost completely in the dark so i was pleased i managed to get a photo out of it!

and this is one of the amazing pieces of art put together by engedi arts and now in leeds and shortly to be in colwyn bay - this chess set is called 'mother mary chess set' and is by pea runstall and pits a series of marys against the empire of domination - it must have taken an eon to make and was quite extraordinary as was the rest of the art.

this is an AMAZING opportunity!

if i were to think what are the themes i want to look at and think about at the moment in the world they would be ecology, economy and faith, and guess what next saturday - dec 1 - there is an incredibly creative event in london doing exactly that - ADVENTurous. 

the day consists of

• a serious of speakers in a TED talks style day - exploring those themes. the speaker line up is fantastic as far as i can see
• artists who have engaged with the themes displaying their work which will go on to leeds and colwyn bay after
• an evening of performers including no less than world slam champ harry baker (biased moi?!)

it's all hosted by greenbelt. you can get tickets for the day, evening or both. if you can't afford it and want to come e-mail me and i'll see what i can do (shhhh don't tell anyone)

i can't wait! what a great way to kick off advent. i'll try and get blogging this week about advent - no time no time and yes i know advent is about waiting.

now is the time you ADVENTurous bargain hunters

ADVENTurous is an event not to miss - greenbelt comes to London for a day in the winter! but the cheap ticket price deal ends at the end of october so get yourself over to the web site and get yourself a ticket!!!!

ADVENTurous

ADVENTurous is an exciting festival on dec 2 in london hosted by greenbelt at the wonderful union chapel. there is a day of thinking, artistry and imagining around the world we live in and the issues we face in the areas of faith, ecology and economy and how we get to a new world. the line up of speakers looks great - mike frost, ann morrisy, ruth valerio, ann pettifor, abdul rehman malik. then in the evening there is an evening of artistry with harry baker (!), iain archer and hope and social. tickets for the whole day if you book before the end of october are only £25 which seems like a pretty good deal. 

en gedi arts are curating the visual arts for this and simultaneously exhibitions and events in leftbank leeds and the imperial hotel in colwyn bay. hope to see you there!

spontaneous eucharist kit

i really love this spontaneous eucharist kit created by molten meditation for greenbelt this year. there's an elaborate write up on it here and how robin and suzanne from two fairly different christian traditions created a way of doing something that was as respectful as possible whilst breaking communion out of it's box. here's how robin describes it

Sometimes it seems that the ritual of the bread and wine are hidden, are kept from people and guarded by the Priests and the church. My desire really is to give the Eucharist away...

...The concept we were trying to get across is that the bread and wine could have a greater significance for us in our daily lives if we took it out of the church. In any moment of celebration or where something needed healing you could bring out the box and share Communion with those around you - or with yourself. How beautiful could that be?

so they had the bread and wne blessed by an ordained priest and created little kits and gave them away - simple eh? you can download a kit here.

this is without doubt a worship trick! no 29 in series 4.

if you are in norfolk check out soulcircus that they are both involved in...

gb talk available

my talk from greenbelt is available now on the greenbelt web site here - another world is possible

new beginnings

well that's the theme of greenbelt next year as she turns 40 and looks back and looks forward. this year greenbelt as ever was a delight - a hopeful sign of the kingdom of god and what the church can be at her best - creative, searching, diverse, hopeful, honest, celebratory, learning, welcoming, human, spiritual, on the way to a better world, healing. my favourite moment i think was hearing bruce cockburn sing 'lovers in a dangerous time' with that immortal line - you got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight. showing my age but i probably first heard him sing that getting on for 25 years ago. greenbelt was the muddiest i can remember since the year goldie was DJing in a tent next to one where grace were leading quiet worship! greenbelt was also the moment i think i will have transitioned into being 'harry baker's dad' as he rocked greenbelt with his sensational poetry off the back of his edinburgh shows - so exciting to see...

seemed like an appropriate blog post title too. after greenbelt it always feels like the chilled summer season is definitely over and the mayhem is about to start! i am gearing up for a new intake of students later in september on the cms pioneer mission leadership training including our first intake of pioneer ordinands and the addition of a new MA in pioneer ministry. we'll also be switching accrediting body to the university of durham over the next two years which whatever way you look at it will create work. so time to get cracking...

thanks to everyone who bothered to get up and come to the session i spoke at on monday morning - i was amazed anyone was there! if you liked the content you might like this series on newness -

1 the adjacent possible | 2 the new belongs elsewhere | 3 dissent | 4 refounding |5 darkness and unknowing | 6 connect don't protect | 7 imagination grief and amazement | 8 mission community beyond lose networks

and this series of talks which is an expanded version really of what i was sharing about another world is possible.

off to greenbelt 2012...

hope to see a load of friends old and new at greenbelt 2012 in cheltenham... no doubt you will have your own schedule of stuff to do but here's a few things i'll be doing.

in gloucester cathedral for a gathering tonight - always a highlight...

on the cms stand and meeting people to talk about the totally wonderful pioneer mission leadership training - find me there or in the tiny tea tent if you want to chat about it

doing a talk called another world is possible on monday at 9:30am in GTV (i think) - here's the spiel... 

There are always those in power in empires, organisations, cultures and churches who have vested interest in the status quo. Business as usual serves them rather well. In the midst of this stuckness there are those who see, imagine, speak and dream a new world. Through this gift brought by prophets, dissenters, poets and artists newness emerges and another world is possible.

cheering on world slam champion harry baker as he brings his 5 star show to greenbelt 7pm sat night in the performance café - solas were two years ahead of greenbelt on this one but hey they've caught up with the forward thinking scots and given him his own slot now!

watching joel's pechakucha (presentation of 20 slides lasting 20 seconds each) - no idea where or when that is? 

taking part in grace service god's not fair which will be in the art gallery saturday 3pm using si smith's amazing images on job, and attending grace workshop sun 7pm - what we've learned now we are eighteen

going to the beer tent saturday evening to meet with pioneers for a rendezvous (see here for other slots) and bucaneer kester brewin who is celebrating his self published book mutiny on all things piratical (is that a word?!) and his big 4 0 ! i read the book on holiday and really enjoyed it whilst raising an eyebrow or too at the rewrite of the prodigal son as a dark tale, christianity as ever the bad evil empire, and god as the wizard of oz who is not there when the curtain is pulled back (or torn in two)!! will try and review at some point it though my best intentions of reviewing books get overtaken by too much work to do these days (and i am still waiting for kester to review curating worship ;)  )

taking part in the annual photoswap 

greenbelt short talks afternoon may 20 - paradise lost and found

paradise lost and found afternoon of short talks on may 20 is being hosted by greenbelt at the greenbelt offices in london

greenbelt post tons of free talks

someone mentioned to me this week that they had been looking at greenbelt's talks on their web site. the last two years you have to pay for, but they have made all the talks from previous years downloadable free. this is a massive resource! there have been many wonderful talks over the years. if you have one you think is particularly worth listening to leave a comment...

then and now

steve collins has a photo of jen, me, joel and harry at greenbelt in 98 and one of joel and harry this year - then and now!

and some photos of the installation you are what you eat at greenbelt that no one got to see as it was sadly trashed by kids...