jonnybaker

grace

we kicked off a news season of grace last night revisiting the liturgy from wounded in all the right places. this time we all contributed some broken pieces to make 'grace', a sign that our own brokenness can become something when we come together with others who are broken. westill have the communion table we made from broken pieces in 2008 which we used last night. we topped and tailed it with a couple of nick cave tunes - joy and as the waters cover the sea. my playlist is here if you are on apple music. 

jesus reconta a história do mundo

in brazil was a first for me - a liturgy piece i wrote that was translated into portuguese. i was speaking on luke 7: 36-50 which is a meal at simon the pharisee's house where a woman who is a 'sinner' comes and pours perfume on jesus feet. the translation was a mix of google translate then tidied up by marcio who i was with. i have put the english version below. what struck me in this passage is that repentance or the ability to change is perhaps the ability to receive a new story, to be re-narrated. in that sense you might say jesus restories the world. for those who are shamed that new story is one where they stand tall, find a seat at the table and no longer have to remain in their place. for those in places of power and privilege that story is also of a level table where all are welcome, all are loved, without judgement. can those in power see what is going on, be grateful, learn humility and repent of their superiority? or will they remain in the false narrative they inhabit? the invitation is there. ff they can embrace that story God’s kingdom will surely be found.

Jesus reconta a história do mundo
Isso mantem as pessoas em seus devidos lugares
 
Quando sou anfitrião me ajuda a criar espaços calorosos
de aceitação  e sem julgamento
Quando a refeição é interrompida por alguém não  convidado
me ajude a crier espaço
 
Que aqueles que experimentam vergonha em outros lugares
se sintam recebidos aqui
 
Quando sou convidado,
que eu receba com graça os dons oferecidos
não importa o anfitrião.
 
Onde há poder e privilégio,
superioridade e direito,
e as pessoas são desprezadas,
me ajude a estar seguro o suficiente
desafiar as expectativas
e nomear o que realmente está acontecendo.
Quando todos os lugares à mesa são ocupados por homens,
reorganizar os móveis e
abrir espaço para as mulheres.
 
Obrigado pelo amor louco da mulher marginalizada
derramado como perfume
espontâneo,
não ensaiado,
presente sincero.
Deixe ela me ensinar a
deixar de lado a fórmula
e seguir o fluxo.
 
Que venha o seu reino,
onde os envergonhados se mantêm altos
e não precisam mais permanecer em seu lugar.
 
Que seja feita a sua vontade,
onde os poderosos são humilhados
e não precisam mais permanecer em seu lugar.
 
Jesus reconta a história do mundo
que mantém as pessoas em seus lugares.
Amém

and in english...

Jesus re-story the world
that keeps people in their place.

When I am host help me create a welcoming space
of acceptance and non-judgement.
When the meal is disturbed by someone not invited,
help me make room.
May those who experience shame elsewhere
be at ease here.

When I am guest,
may I receive with grace the gifts offered
no matter the host.
Where there is power and privilege,
superiority and entitlement,
and people are looked down upon,
help me be secure enough
to defy expectations
and name what is really going on.
When all the seats at the table are taken by men,
re-arrange the furniture,
make space for women.

Thank you for the crazy love of the outcast woman
poured out as perfume
spontaneous,
unrehearsed,
heartfelt gift.
Let her teach me
to let go of the formulaic
and go with the flow.

May your kingdom come,
where the shamed stand tall
and no longer have to remain in their place.
May your will be done,
where the powerful are brought low
and no longer have to remain in their place.

Jesus re-story the world
that keeps people in their place.
Amen

 i have added to the worship tricks list

the good samaritan

i was leading the first day of london pioneer school today, one the cms pioneer hubs. it was an introduction to pioneering mission. one of the things we did was to look at the story in john 4 of the woman at the well as an example. on the way over on the train i wrote a liturgy as i wanted to end the day by revisiting that story. it's not that polished and whether it makes sense if you weren't in the discussion i don't know but here it is. i'll add it as a worship trick.

Disturbing Spirit of God
Lead us out of our comfort zones
From Jerusalem and Judea
To Samaria and the ends of the earth

Show us Samaria in our locale.
When we are tempted to walk round it
Give us courage to walk through
When we feel safety in a big group
Help us get away from the disciples
And like you
Choose vulnerability

Remind us that you are ahead of us
Help us to join in with what you are doing
Show us the wells in our community
Lead us to the woman at the well

Where others see sinners
May we see saints
Where others see heretics
May we see god seekers
Rather than play host
May we be guest
Rather than give
Help us receive

For those who are thirsty
Pour out living water
May we worship the Father
In Spirit and truth

When we are invited to stay in Samaria
Let’s say yes
Surprise us when
You do it from the inside

The harvest is plentiful
But the labourers are few
Send us to Samaria
To find apostles like the woman at the well
The good Samaritan

and here is the mottley crew of 19 setting out on the course. three were online in africa in case you were wondering why someone is holding a laptop.

the weekend before i was in birmingham on the first weekend of the newbigin hub, the cms pioneer hub there - fun times!

st lydia's dinner church

it was lovely to visit st lydia's in brooklyn on my visit to new york. it was founded in 2008 by emily scott meeting in homes and then a zen centre before getting a shop front where it is now. i have not read it but there is a book which includes the story of st lydia's or stories from at least - for all who hunger. they describe it as a dinner church which is fairly apt as the worship is organised around a meal (and the food we had was great). it's prayerful and conversational. there are two dinner tables so probably works for about 20 people.

i stayed with christian scharen who is the pastor there now. he is delightful! he gave me a copy of a book he has written which is a theological reflection on the roots and hip hop culture someone has to care . i loved it! it is part of a series of short reflections on music - there is another in the series on radiohead and one coming on new order for example. 

i do like churches where the size is constrained by the space to be small - you get more intimacy and a real sense of community. we meet in our home most tues nights with friends over a meal to share life and pray - the table always seems to me a great space for a community of disciples. i also really like church that is in different kinds of spaces - it just shifts the imagination. the worship was simple chants along with a shruti - i had not seen one before but worked well. you set it to play a chord and squeeze it to create a drone ove which the chanting is done. it was advent so the chant i remember gegan 'honour the darkness'.

if you are in brooklyn call in.

liturgies for the earth 3

in response to the challenge i issued of needing more liturgies for the earth,  grace saturday night was a really lovely thoughtful evening. as we met, world leaders finalised the statement from cop26. steve has added pretty much everything from the service to the grace site including prayers and links to photos of stations. i really love the photos of leaves with things written on that we lament as loss. feel free to use anything - lots of it was borrowed or recycled from elsewhere!

my improvised watermelon station - last minute sub for pumpkin worked well. 

the prayers and so on were really good. I think the one that has lingered with me the most is this liturgy against ecocide by sam donaldson from amost trust's download

I love you earth, you are beautiful
I love you earth, you are beautiful
I love you earth, you are beautiful

I love you rivers, you are beautiful
I love you rivers, you are beautiful
I love you rivers, you are beautiful

I love you trees, you are beautiful
I love you trees, you are beautiful
I love you trees, you are beautiful

I love you birds, you are beautiful
I love you birds, you are beautiful
I love you birds, you are beautiful

I love you body, you are beautiful
I love you body, you are beautiful
I love you body, you are beautiful

it feels so important to be lovers of the earth our home.

i am adding this to the worship trick series

liturgies for the planet 2

thanks to a pioneer student who put me on to this collection of prayers for the climate and ecological emergency by john swales which is on the arocha web site. he also has a youtube channel with some of the prayers spoken over videos. and on twitter he recently posted this prayer for those feeling overwhelmed

I can’t stop climate breakdown,
But I can play my part,
A small part, 
So small,
That it is insignificant, 
But I will try. 


I can’t stop climate breakdown,
But I can pray,
And act,
So small, 
That it seems insignificant 
But I will try.


I can’t stop climate breakdown,
But I can love,
And be loved.
So beautiful,
That my life has dignity, 
But I will try.


I can’t stop climate breakdown,
But I can rage against the machine,
And say,
Not in my name,
So small,
But I will try.

I can’t stop climate breakdown,
But I can hope,
And dream,
And participate,
In a conspiracy of compassion,
A holy rebellion,
Until that day when all tears are wiped away.

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. 

 

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.

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.

time to grow some gills

this is a somewhat delayed blog post. when september arrived it felt like there was a deflated mood. i think it was because it was a new school year and we had imagined we might have moved on but it was clear that was not going to be the case. it might be a long winter ahead and now of course we are in a second lockdown.

i was really helped to name this feeling by chatting with a friend tina who said to me that initially it was like we were holding our breath but now we realised we needed to grow some gills! in other words we've got to adapt and live in this environment as we are going to be in it for a while. 

we took that idea at the september grace and had a liturgy/prayer we constructed together on zoom by inviting people to write a line in the chat in response to the idea. these were then knocked into an order which we read together. it's a fairly unusual liturgy but i really liked it (and will add to the worship tricks list)

We are so used to being able to fix things quickly
Our social systems, wealth and technology were going to get us through
“One step at a time,” I thought.
“Stay the course,” I thought.
“Steady on,” I thought.
We thought we were just holding our breath
But it’s time to grow gills

This time is unstable, characterised by inconsistent rules and u-turns.
It is hard to plan ahead.
How can a divided society heal when we can’t even be present in the same room?
Isolated from friends and family, having to find new ways to connect
Give us grace
Hold us when we feel we can’t go on
We thought we were just holding our breath
But it’s time to grow gills

As we are held underwater,
help our ears tune in to new sounds and frequencies
Gill growers who know who they are in water
May we learn to see in a new element,
unafraid to keep our eyes open
We thought we were just holding our breath
But it’s time to grow gills

Let us dedicate this involuntary fast to the Lord
Help us find a new way to carry on
Renew our hope
Turn our fear and retreat into discovery and joy
Renew us
We though we were just holding our breath
But it’s time to grow gills

a communion prayer - jesus and the powers

i wrote a communion prayer for grace on saturday...

Eucharist: Jesus and the powers

Thank you for your incredible life. 

You announced a new kingdom at the margins of the world, 
an offensive against the strongholds of oppression, 
and the dawn of liberation. 

You made a way in the wilderness. 

You proclaimed good news of the kingdom, 
brought healing and deliverance, 
lived a life of nonviolent confrontation with the powers. 

You restored social wholeness to the sick and “impure”. 
You tore down the boundaries of tribe, gender, skin tone, religion, disability and ill health. 
You overturned the dynamics of status and honour 
to make way for the outcast Jew and alien gentile. 

With you there is no longer male or female, slave or free, Jew or gentile.
Patriarchy, slavery and racism have no place in your kingdom.
All are made in God’s image, 
all are welcome, 
all are included in your “last as first” revolution.

Almost every ruling faction in society opposed you. 
Your resistance was through loving enemies, 
non violence, 
story telling,
truth telling, 
meals with the wrong people, 
refusing to live under the domination of the powers and their way of ordering life.

You chose love and not fear 
pursuing kingdom practice even at the cost of death. 
Ultimately they did put you to death. 
You were lynched and hung on a tree. 

In a great mystery and a great reversal 
you overcame the powers on the cross. 
Three days later you were raised from death, 
a sign that the powers have been defeated, 
a sign of hope, 
a sign of a future kingdom when all will be well. 
You shattered the powers’ reign of death in history.

When we forget, help us to remember. 
When we are blind help us to see. 
When we are deaf help us to hear. 
When we despair and are overwhelmed send your Spirit to comfort us.

You call us to a conversion of heart,
to turn away from empire, its seductions and iniquity.
This is not a call out of the world, but into an alternative social practice,
a community of resistance and healing, 
gathering in homes and around the table with you. 

You have given us a meal to remember you by
a meal to remember the ending of slavery 
and deliverance from the power of Pharaoh’s dream;
a meal in which you broke bread and drank wine - 
your body broken for us, 
your blood of a new relationship with God.

May our homes and our tables be open, 
May they not have rigid boundaries. 
May this table and this home today be such a place. 
May we live from love and not fear. 

We break bread and drink wine now to celebrate your life, death and resurrection.
And we look for the day when all slavery, all oppression and all domination is ended.
When we will be free at last
Your kingdom come
Amen

we'll post the whole service on the grace site at some point and i'll come back and post a link here. if you are interested in what is behind this take, things in the background are probably multiple but some that spring to mind:

• mark's gospel and his telling of jesus' life - i have been very inspired by ched myers binding the strong man which i have blogged about elsewhere. there are some lines of the above prayer that are phrases directly lifted from his wonderful commentary. i really hope he would like this prayer.
• the current wider context and the challenge of making sense of the powers and their domination as exemplified in the murder of george floyd and in the continual ordering of political and economic life to favour the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the earth and those at the edges. for me the wider context is also about religious power which too easily slides towards control and/or domesticating jesus. i am not against institutions or power as such - it is where there is domination that is the issue.
• subversive meals by alan streett who reads the lord's supper as an anti-imperial practice (which is picked up on by kreider and kreider in worship after christendom). 
• walter wink's trilogy on the powers and alastair mcintosh's take on that in soil and soul.
• james cone's the cross and the lynching tree which i have just read (thank you emma for the suggestion) - the prayer uses the word lynched challenged by this book. we reflected on this image of the black christ at grace which is from a book of poems the black christ by countee cullen published in 1929 which james cone refers to in the amazing chapter on the arts. if you want a short summary of the idea of jesus being lynched then chance the rapper's twitter thread does a nice job.

i am adding this to the worship trick series 4 - that will be no 79 - i must try and get to 100 before it's been a decade that that series has been running!

godisnowhere reflection

a reflection/piece of liturgy i wrote for grace last night. i have been struck looking at the stories of the resurrection appearances how grief and hope are often close together, and how often god’s absence and presence are experienced in the same stories. perhaps this has something to say to us in our own experience at the moment - many of us have felt god is far away and many of us have been reassured by god’s presence.

The women arrive at the empty tomb
God is nowhere
Suddenly Jesus meets them
God is now here

Mary weeping with loss in the garden
God is nowhere
The gardener speaks her name
God is now here

The disciples afraid in a locked room
God is nowhere
Then Jesus appears
God is now here

Thomas refusing to believe
God is nowhere
He touches Jesus wounds
God is now here

The disciples fish all night without a catch
God is nowhere
“Throw your net over the right side”
God is now here

Peter shattered when the cock crows
God is nowhere
A healing conversation on the beach
God is now here

Two disciples downcast on the Emmaus Rd
God is nowhere
They recognised him in the breaking of bread
God is now here

GODISNOWHERE

hand washing ritual

grace's easter vigil went well - like so many others we were feeling our way with the technology running it online and quickly worked out that our usual music background didn't work! i hope it went well for people who followed along on the hashtag #graceeastervigil2020 in either twitter or instagram. a big plus was having people join in who were in other countries! the communion prayer is here

it was really good fun having steve leach dj at the end live on facebook and it's still there if you want to have a listen. he played an amazing tune of his with the queen's speech mixed in which i loved. 

as ever we invited people to create bits of content. i thought one was really worth sharing here as a worship trick. gill created a hand washing ritual in response to one of the readings. it is on the grace web site and has a prayer that goes along with the various kinds of washing. it's really lovely. i have put it on my phone so i can dig it out each time i wash my hands. anyway you might like it. 

there was also a really good playlist at least for my taste and i thought it suited the mood of the vigil perfectly (ht mike rose) which is on spotify and apple music 

share communion in your own home and resist the power of religious control

when christ dies on the cross the curtain in the temple is ripped from top to bottom. that curtain guarded the way into the place that only the priests could go. it is a sign that the religious power controlling access to god is ended. the way is open. in some mysterious way christ’s non violent resistance disarms the powers including the power of religious domination.

while in new zealand i read binding the strong man by ched myers. it is a brilliant commentary on mark’s gospel story of the life of jesus christ. i found it compelling. he sees jesus’ life as one of non violent resistance to the powers that oppress and dominate people. in the foreword to the twentieth anniversary edition hendricks describes it as nothing less than a project to rewild the church. i should have read it years ago.

there are two powers that jesus contends with - the imperial power of rome and the religious power of jerusalem.

myers tees up the narrative by saying that these two powers are highlighted in stories where people are oppressed by an evil spirit. the first is in the synagogue where an unclean spirit says to jesus ‘why are you interfering with us’? this is a pretty perceptive question because within the first few chapters of mark jesus has interfered with the way the religious world is controlled and organised by breaking laws of the sabbath, healing people, suggesting that god has come to those who the religious world deems unclean - touching lepers, eating with ‘scum’ tax collectors, touching a woman who is unclean through bleeding, blind beggars, gentiles and the list goes on. he messes with what is clean and dirty. within three chapters the heavies from jerusalem have been sent up to investigate and accuse jesus of being possessed by the devil. and so it goes on from there. jesus does not mince his words when he confronts the religious authorities about how they burden and oppress people. his stark warning to his followers is ‘beware the yeast of the pharisees’. this all eventually comes to a head in jerusalem where jesus turns the tables in the temple which is the heart of the religious ordering and system which is ripping off the poor, and while the disciples are admiring the building he says that within a generation it will be destroyed. and sure enough that is exactly what happens. as myers puts it “jesus now offers a vision of the end of the temple-based world, and the dawn of a new one in which the powers of domination have been toppled.”

the second story is where jesus crosses a lake and encounters a man who is oppressed by ‘legion’. myers says that can only be heard as a reference to roman military power by readers that somehow dominates this man’s life so that he is in chains. jesus frees him from this domination. jesus is ultimately executed by this state power. it’s hard to say how much they perceive him to be a threat. today is good friday when we remember christ’s death which was at the hands of the imperial state and the religious authorities who colluded together. but my own take is that the real anger and drive for it came from the religious authorities. it was their world that jesus threatened so much.

the opening lines in mark’s gospel are about a way - preparing a way. jesus life shows a radical alternative way. i have always found this way amazing and inspirational - i have often noticed how many people like jesus but are put off by the church. in my own clunky way i want to follow him in that way. and i have been stirred up by this notion that to follow in that way is to live in a way of non-violence, of activism, and of resistance to the powers of domination. it is a way that has at its heart a vision for a different kind of world (kingdom as jesus calls it) of peace, of cancelling debts, of love, healing and non judgement, and fairness for all that welcomes those who the powers exclude precisely because all are god’s children. god is not the preserve of the wealthy, powerful and religious.

i was thinking about these powers in relation to colonialism while i was in new zealand and i will come back to that in another post. but today i am thinking about religious powers of domination and control in the church and in particular the church of england of which i am a life long member and a lay pioneer minister.

in a previous post i suggested we need more imagination and less control especially as people seek to be creative online in how they worship and pray and do community. these are challenging times and as i said in a previous post there is a lot of good work and practice going on. but the lockdown has brought home to me just how far we stray at times from the way of christ in the church. it is the sharing of communion in particular that has vexed me this week. 

jesus instituted a meal with friends where bread and wine are shared and people have done that ever since in homes and churches to remember christ. jesus life was one where he was always in trouble over meals - he ate with the wrong people who were always welcome at his table, though he usually was round theirs.

fast forward to coronavirus and the church is holding online eucharist services with guidelines that the only people who can share the bread and wine in their homes are bishops and priests. everyone else can watch apparently! so for easter day for example which is a day when all are encouraged to take communion suggested activities are:

Some bishops and priests may wish to celebrate Holy Communion in their homes.

Practising spiritual communion as this is a day on which all ought otherwise to receive Holy Communion in church.

spiritual communion is explained here - and is for situations where you can't share bread and wine. in many cases i suspect and indeed i hope that those leading the service will not have it but use the absence of sharing bread and wine to reflect on this moment of separation. and some will choose not to have services of communion which is probably a good option if you want to obey the guidelines. the idea that just the priests would have communion i find unbelievable both in itself and that it could be in print in public - i did a double take to check i was reading it right. this makes it both exlusive and a rite of exclusion! surely the obvious thing to do and what everyone will want to do and i hope will do is to share bread and wine in their own homes to remember christ. it saddens me that the church has not got the imagination to say this is healthy practice. there is a regulation in the canons of the church (scroll down to b5) that gives discretion to ministers for unusual circumstances to lead worship that is different. for example they may...

on occasions for which no provision is made... use forms of service considered suitable for those occasions and may permit another minister to use the said forms of service.

we are in such an occasion surely! so i hope ministers act anyway.

the church has a lot of regulations about communion - what prayers, who can preside, where it can take place and so on. in grace we have found these frustrating and sought permission to use other prayers and write our own which we have done over the years. we have respected having someone preside who is ordained when we meet in st mary's church as we are part of the church of england. one curious regulation is that a place needs to be authorised if it's not a consecrated building like a church. so whenever we meet in homes we regularly share bread and wine in a simple informal way usually as part of a meal and concluded those ordained should not preside because the buildings have not got the permission - i know it's nuts. bishops are likely to have had to give permission for priests to lead communion from their homes online i suspect! i have written about grace's approach in the introduction to making communion if you are interested. the church of england says on the one hand that it values creativity, that the shape and integrity of worship is what is important and not the words in themselves and we need new ways of doing things but in practice it is still extremely controlled and locked down.

the church has various justifications through sacramental theology and other clever sounding ruses. but really it is an issue of control. these are things the church has constructed, made up, nothing more and i can't help thinking they are in direct opposition or at least massively out of kilter to the way of christ. how do you get from what he did to what the church is saying at this time? it's completely baffling. beware the yeast of the pharisees. the curtain in the temple seems to have been stitched back together. the central structures of the church of england have somehow created a scenario in which there is a priestly caste who control access to god because it is only through their magic actions that people can have communion, bread and wine to remember christ. if one of them is not in your home tough. it's absurd! the religious power of domination is alive. 

i refuse to collude with it. it’s power was disarmed by christ’s death on the cross. i will be happily remembering the story of christ and sharing bread and wine online with others in grace and in my own home with jenny. this is we note from the guidelines not going to be an official church of england communion. but we will be making communion. i hope there are homes and indeed vicars up and down the country who ignore the church’s guidelines on this. i get to go to various meetings in the church of england where the rhetoric is that the church is committed to mission, to lay ministry (that means people who are not ordained) and the vision of the church is to empower all of its people with a vision called ‘setting god’s people free’. how are we supposed to take that seriously?!

some years back at another time when i was bumping into the religious power of domination in the church of england in another way, i made an art installation called red tape in which i ring fenced the table with barrier tape and bound the bible in red tape and wrapped a dog collar in red tape. i couldn't help thinking about it again today...

from my experience of communion in homes over the years, a simple way to do it is to do so in a meal and share bread and wine either between courses or at the end. give space to tell the story of christ in some way and to remember his life. death and resurrection. invite participation and conversation, use one of the stories from the gospels, maybe one of the meals jesus is at. have a prayer of thanksgiving - the official church ones are online, you can find one you like from elsewhere - such as the iona community or grace, or someone can improvise one. if you improrvise it it helps to have an idea of the shape of those kinds of prayers. in our grace easter vigil we will be using a thanksgiving prayer for easter written by the st hilda community and janet morley which has really lovely words. then give some space to share and pray for one another. it's not hard!

bathing in light

it was a wonderful grace last night led by beyond from brighton.

st mary's in ealing is a beautiful space and it was perfect for lasers, smoke and incense bathing the building in light as we celebrated a eucharist of light. it included a wander round to gaze on the amazing installations of light.

in the same way you 'break bread' we also broke light with some glow sticks!

it all looked very beautiful so i took some photos of course though it was a bit challenging in the low light! i have added an album on flickr - grace eucharist of light

we return the favour and will be visiting beyond on may 3 to lead an evening for them in brighton. 

grace does planetary mass

i am in two minds as to whether to put this out there but last saturday with extinction rebeliion in full flow and a focus on the planet for grace we gathered round the table. some members had been in to join in the action - sadly i couldn't make it due to work. so we gathered to pray for our world, to remember it is god's world and lament the ways it is being pushed to its limits. i have a recording of the planetary mass from the nine o clock service. i can't remember where i got it from but i have always loved it and play it to students as an example of creative liturgy. it must be from the early nineties. anyway i transcribed it which i have never done and we read through it together and shared bread and wine round the table. it was without the visuals and drama but poignant and powerful. if anyone is reading who was involved in its creation thank you - and i hope it's ok to put this on my blog. but here is the liturgy and i have added tracks we listened to. the soil by david benjamin blower was perfect for passing round bread and wine and we brought soil and water to the table along with bread and wine.

i'd love to hear of what other laments and liturgies anyone else is creating or using. 

Welcome and Opening Prayer
Listen to planetary mass 0-3:09

The planetary mass is our celebration of life and our ritual of celebration and repentance on behalf of our culture. Here we seek to mourn the destruction of so much life on our planet and to cultivate a compassion that feels in our own flesh the wounds inflicted on others and on our planet and to awaken to the incredible awe and beauty of our existence with God. Whether humanity has a future or whether it is going to become extinct in the next few centuries depends on our will to live and that means our absolute will for our one indivisible life. We have got used to death, at least to the death of other creatures and other people and to get used to death is the beginning of freezing into lifelessness itself. So the essential thing is to affirm life, the life of other creatures, the life of other people, our own lives.

The Lord is here
His Spirit is with us

Breathe in the Holy Spirit…
Breathe in life
And out fear
In passion
And out numbness
In hope
And out death

The Word
Wisdom let us attend. From the book of Deuteronomy:
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him.

This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Read Declaration of Rebellion from This is Not A Drill

Confession
Creator God the Source of all life we confess our sin to you.
We confess where we have turned away from you and where in ignorance we have turned our back on the earth and on each other.
We confess that as we have wanted more and more we have dominated and exploited your creation.
And we admit that we are responsible for abusing the riches of our home, that we are complicit in crucifying you by polluting the air and the sea, by destroying the forests, by starving the people of the two-thirds world, and by robbing the future generations of life not yet here, our children and grandchildren.
God of all creation we turn away from our addiction
We turn back to you
Our Source and our Hope
We repent and we turn back to you

Communion
This ritual is a symbol of the worship already happening in creation. The whole universe is invited to this intimate event, the feasting on Christ. The church here has no walls - we worship with plants, planets, animals, and angels.

The day before Christ suffered he took bread in sacred hands and looking up to heaven he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying ‘take eat this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’. In the same way after supper he took the cup and gave thanks. He gave it to them saying ‘drink this all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this to recall me, to remember me.’

Creator and soul of the cosmos
The universe shines with your life Lord
You’re everything we desire.
We give our lives to you
You created everything that lives
Through Christ you are the Source
We believe and trust in you
Our desire is to let go of death and give ourselves to the vision of life your son Jesus believed in to the point of his own death
We commit ourselves to him
Spirit of life, integrity and truth who raised our brother from death and gives us hope beyond death here now
You are our strength and compassion
We believe and trust in you

God of life we bring wine to the table
Touch this now to become a life blood transfusion.
Christ our life we bring bread to the table to become your precious flesh
In our global village we offer it in the presence of those who starve.
Eternal source we offer water:
The overwhelming swell of the oceans unique to this planet.
Creator God we thank you for the gift of soil:
The foundation of the forest, the sign of our mortality
Creator God we offer ourselves along with these elements of bread and wine and join with the voice of the whole universe crying out for life and healing.
Father hear our prayer through Jesus Christ.
Amen

We can no longer see ourselves as separate from nature.
We are all given a chance to participate in the story of the universe.
We’re all in it together - people, particles and God.
Through Christ hope is built into the very fabric of space time and matter.
So now there’s hope.
Now contains the possibility of resurrection.
So let’s come to the table now and let’s reconnect with Christ,
hope of the cosmos,
the power to renew us and change our lives now.

[share bread and wine
play The Soil by David Benjamin Blower during distribution]

Prayer
Let us pray together now for the universal church and the world.
Christ our hope at this critical time lead us into facing our denial.
As the church, as a culture wake us up to an awareness of the responsibility and opportunities we now have.
We honour the wisdom gained by centuries of spiritual and artistic endeavour through the experience of our mystics and the lives and deaths of all our saints.
We pray for an open church that celebrates the coming together of all faith and wisdom traditions, the sciences and the arts.
We pray for a new time of hope, mystery and promise as we bring all these riches to bear on our global crisis.
God the Mother and Father of all creation we pray that a new way of living emerges out of the present reductionist system that’s robbed the world of its spirit and turned human beings into objects and nature into a machine.
We pray for a culture that allows us to live in harmony with all creation and stops crippling the earth’s diversity.
We pray that your Spirit of passionate life that raised Christ from the dead bursts now into all people in our earth community.
Creator God we pray that we will wake up to a new consciousness.

Watch Greta Thurbnberg and George Monbiot video

Listen to Numbers by Radiohead

Blessing
May Holy Wisdom whose voice calls all to the feast
Whose hand draws the whole cosmic community of life to her table,
preserve you in eternal life.
And the blessing of God Creator, Liberator and Holy Spirit be amongst you and stay with you always
Amen

The mass has ended
Go in peace

[All liturgy is from The Planetary Mass by the Nine O Clock Service]

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]