jonnybaker

a light through the noise

at grace on saturday night we had an amazing evening. 10 people created something in response to advent, picking a passage from a prophet or a theme. i am collating all the pieces and we will add them to the grace archive at some point. joel baker made an amazing video - his intro is below. the track he played with it was ben frost - theory of machines which has been switched out for putting it online as we don't have permission for it. but do switch it for yourself if you can. i honestly thought this was amazing (not just in a biased parent way!). it's been added to the proost advent series here. anyway here's the spiel from joel to go with it...

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." Isaiah 9:2

When reading a few verses / passages for inspiration this one really struck out at me.
As we come to the end of the year we reflect; pulling together end of year playlists, highlights and lowlights, miles run, walked and cycled, goals and achievements. But one thing I haven't particularly wanted to reflect on is what's going on in the wider world. It’s pretty depressing.

Sometimes it feels as if we are walking in darkness and could really do with seeing a light. This then was my visual response & exercise. By scraping various headlines from the past year or so, I tried to see if I could shine a light through the noise and give us something to hold onto as we move into 2025.

a carol i have written

earlier this year i wrote a carol or perhaps it might be better described as an advent hymn. it has been posted as part of the proost advent series here incorporating a video from jon birch. i was inspired reading isaiah 9 and in particular the imagery of verse 5:

The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.

in a world with so much brutality and violence the image of a fire burning army boots and clothes of war struck a chord and a deep sense of advent longing for another possible world. that turned into lyrics for a carol or advent hymn ‘smoke is rising’. the last verse quotes arundhati roy which I am sure many of you will recognise. niall dunne has written what i think is a beautiful melody. this came about through a chance conversation at cms (niall has started the undergrad pioneer training this year). i’d love any reactions to it. even more I’d love any of you to try it out and lead it. let me know how you get on if you do though it’s a bit late possibly for this year now. i imagine it with a huge church or choir but I don’t have one of those!

my sister ruth kindly has written out the melody and chords. i should add that the guitar tuning is DADGAD which sounds lovely. hopefully you can work out what i am doing from the video if you go that route and like me are not used to that. that’s how I learned it from niall. i should say i am singing it a bit lower than niall as I struggled to reach the top note in f. ruth has written chords in f and in d and unhelpfully I am playing it in e flat!

i have not had the time or kit to record it properly so this is recorded on a phone - thanks to jon birch for his steady hand (and gorgeous lounge). maybe this will spark a new project?! and double thanks to jon who was inspired to make a movie loop of a fire of army boots and clothes of war (with help from ai) which you can see incorporated into the proost version. it's great to be able to contribute to proost which seems to have risen like a phoenix from the ashes.

here are the lyrics:

Smoke is rising
Jonny Baker and Niall Dunne

Smoke is rising from a fire
Of army boots and clothes of war.
Weapons made into ploughshares
Violence is no more
Violence is no more

You have broken slavery’s yoke
And the oppressor’s rod
Lifted the burden from our shoulders
Prince of peace, mighty God
 
Herod’s palace is in crisis
At the news of a new king.
One has come into the world
Who makes the angels sing
Who makes the angels sing

Peace on earth, peace on earth
Their chorus fills the skies
The rich will leave empty handed
The humble poor they will rise

Peace on earth x 3
Their chorus fills the skies
 
Another world is possible
She is on her way
I can hear her breathing
On a quiet day

Another world is possible
This shall be the sign
A child is born, a son is given
In darkness light will shine

Peace on earth x 3
Their chorus fills the skies

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

settle - ambient prayer 2

the second ambient prayer at grace on saturday went really well. the whole thing is here - ambient prayer 2 - including the playlist, card, exercises, movie and slides. we have made sure we put everything up so if anyone else wants to try it out it's all there. feel free and let us know how you get on. i am hoping to develop say a series of 6 over the next year or so. it will be quite a nice off the shelf intro to contemplative prayer.

i have enjoyed thinking about a visual idea to go with each one. this time it was an old grace idea reworked - shake up a jar and watch it settle. i  loved how it came out orange which was to do with some christmas left over syrup from making candied grapefruit - it had a bit of campari in it which helped the liquid be a bit thicker! it definitely slows you down - you know it's slow when a drip of water falling from the lid feels like some action. it lasts around 4 minutes so the challenge is to watch it all!. the average length of viewing on instagram so far is 16 seconds which tells you everything you need to know about social media and attention span.

i am adding the jar as a worship trick - why not?!

 

new forms: ambient prayer 1

[photo: steve collins]

it's lovely when something comes together. i have had a playlist called ambient prayer for a few years so it's an idea that has been brewing. but last night's grace saw the first ambient prayer. 

we have created a frame/shape for ambient prayer around 5 sections - settle, descent, meditation, silence, ascent. ambient music plays throughout (apart from silence). within that there are two guided prayer exercises - one a centring/stilling prayer and the other a meditation/contemplative exercise. those can vary of course. then each time there is a visual idea - ideally expressed in both still and moving image. we also made a card to give to people who came. that has the image, section titles, and prayers. a screen has the visual idea and the name of the section at that point i.e. also minimal. it was low lit with a candle in the centre. 

for ambient prayer 1 we used a breathing prayer exercise with christine sine's lovely prayer and the lovely be still prayer from st hilda community. the visual idea was the tidal pool in margate as one side of the wall was still and the other choppy which seemed a good picture for the attempt to settle and be still. i took the movie on a phone camera so it's a bit shaky but now want to go back and shoot it with a tripod but whether the conditions will repeat i don't know. it was a very compelling image.

the outline for ambient prayer 1 has been added to the grace archive here, including an explanation, the prayers, the playlist, the postcard and so on.  

the opening and closing prayer written by steve collins were written especially for ambient prayer. i am adding those below:

opening prayer

turn towards god
with all of your being
throw your turbulent concerns, your anxieties and joys
into the calm and unfathomable sea of god
let them sink down until the ripples have ceased
do not look for them
or cast lines into the depths to fish for them

holy god, holy and eternal
maker and sustainer of all things
calm the storms of our hearts and minds
carry us in the ship of your love
across the reflecting sea of prayer
guided by your Son

amen

closing prayer

return clean from prayer to the world
and love it more
let calm trust in god be rooted in you
like a tree that stands secure
become shelter and healing to those around you
bear fruit

holy god, holy and eternal
maker and sustainer of all things
fill us with the strong hope of your spirit
help us plant the seeds of your love
into the broken ground of the world
watered by your Son

amen

the playlist is here on apple and here on spotify - i think these tunes are really wonderful but then i did put it together. 

i hope over time we'll build up several of these.

i have tagged this new forms. that has been on my mind for quite some time to blog/insta new forms of worship, community, church. i have of course done that for years and it was the name of a venue we hosted at greenbelt for years. anyway i hope over time to add a few things to that conversation as we need them as much as ever. grace is not new and yes we have done things like this for a while but this is a new form/shape which others are welcome to pick up/adapt/reinvent so i think it fits the bill.

this can go on the worship trick 4 series list too!

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!

theology brewed in an african pot

it's the beginning of term. a new year is always both crazy busy but hugely energising. at cms in oxford we have around 100 pioneers doing some training with us at undergrad, post grad and doctoral levels. it's such a joy and privilege meeting them and encouraging them in who they are, their sense of vocation, their learning and practice. i teach a couple of modules at undergrad level. one is an introduction to practical theology and reflective practice. we had the first day of that yesterday where amongst other things we discussed theology as a quest, as faith seeking understanding, as conversation about god, as something for everyone and not justan elite educated crew, as something lived, as something contextual and local and intercultural, as something global and not just western and so on. one of the ideas we came back to was theological homelessness (scroll through this edition of anvil and you'll find an article by me and cathy ross on it). 

as you would expect, for every module there is a reading list. one of the books on that is theology brewed in an african pot by agbonkhianmeghe e orobator and an essay option is 'what does theology look like brewed in the pot of your community?' which i think is a fun title (i am not so sure students think it's fun writing essays mind!). i have always loved learning from other cultures and contexts and putting my western learned sense of things in conversation with that - it's a gift cms has given me. it's such a relief to find that wesrern theology (ies?) are a local theology rather than universal and will be enriched in conversation with other theologies. i'll never forget john mbiti sharing names of god he had collected from his travels in africa and he had over 300 names. orabator has various prayers and liturgies in the book, one of which is inspired by john mbiti. it's called an african invocation of divine names and i found it online here and am taking the liberty of posting it below (largely because i have learned over the years of blogging that links eventually don't work!). what does theology look like brewed in the pot of your community i wonder?

Ancient deity,
Unbreakable stone,
Consoler and comforter providing salvation,
Grandfather who alone is the great one,
Watcher of everything who is not surprised by anything,
Piler of rocks into towering mountains,
Divider of night and day,
Response: We praise You!

Sun too bright for our gaze,
Eye of the sun,
Artist-in-chief,
Drummer of life,
Owner of our head,
Large and deep pot,
My feathered one,
Mother of people,
Response: Bless us!

Great nursing mother,
Great eye,
Great rainbow,
Great personal guardian spirit,
Unsurpassed great spirit,
Great source of being,
Great mantle which covers us,
Great leopard with its own forest,
Great healer of eternal life,
Great water-giver,
Great well,
Greatest of friends,
Great spider, the all-wise one,
Response: Enlighten us!

Controller of destiny in the universe,
All-powerful, never defeated,
Father of laughter,
King without blemish,
Possessor of whiteness,
Whiteness without patterns,
Caller-forth of the branching trees,
Unique great one to whom one can take petitions and requests for counsel,
Response: Hear us!

The first who always existed and will never die,
The only one bull in the world,
The one who sees both the inside and the outside,
The one we meet everywhere,
The one who is in all ages, everywhere and at all times,
The one who turns things upside down,
The one who has power to destroy completely,
The one who makes the sun set,
The one who gave everything on this earth and can take everything away,
Response: Guide us!

Axe that fears no thistle,
Hoe that fears no soil,
Ram of majestic sinews and majestic carriage,
Hero who never flees before the enemy,
Big boundless hut,
Victor over death,
Response: Protect us!

Compiled from John Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975); Robert E. Hood, Must God Remain Greek? Afro Cultures and God-Talk (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990); Joseph Healey and Donald Sybertz, Towards an African Narrative Theology (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996), and other sources.

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator - Theology Brewed in an African Pot

i am adding this as a worship trick - yes i'll be getting those going again sporadically.

sault come up with five gospel albums free - godislove

sault are a wonderful band who produced some great funky political grooves over the last few years. they seemed to catch the moment post george floyd's murder - i found them a great comfort in lockdown. they are a bit shrouded in mystery and announcements suddenly appear like today's which was on twitter and instagram as above - 5 albums released simultaneously as an offering to god!!! i have not had a chance to listen through but they sound very gospel - and they are available for free for 5 days. the password is in the message (and the message is godislove btw). there is no guarantee these albums will subsequently appear on spotify or apple music so get downloading. it is for real. i have to add this as a worship trick - remember those?! but typepad is currently so poor that i can't access them so will add to the list later. joy!

the link is here

cms twenty: worship tricks

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

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

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

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

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

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

wolf fields labyrinth

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

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

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

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.

JVT quotes - a fun project

i enjoyed playing around with quotes from john taylor in imagining mission with john taylor, the book i wrote last year with cathy ross, and combining them with my photos. we posted a number of those last year with some short reflections. and i have posted the whole set as a photo album which you are welcome to use.

i like physical objects and thought a card set would be fun. i can imagine using it in teaching about mission or as a personal prompt for ideas or reflection. i have printed with moo cards before which worked fine for a business card type thing but they work out expensive to make sets. after some investigating i found a company who produced decks of cards for games or educational tools and ordered some. when i asked in some of the posts we wrote whether anyone would like a set i began to collect names of people who said they wanted some. all that to say 128 card sets arrived last week. they have printed really well and been posted out to people who wanted a set this weekend. they went much quicker than expected and the whole lot have gone! (if anyone else wants one i could add your name to a list and do another run but it's really only worth it if i do a run of 100 or so...). 

i am adding this as a worship trick as i have shown the sequence of images a few times with a music track and they have gone down well. i think i first did that at the book launch along to calle f by mala. thank you to out of the box cards for letting me use their site to manage the orders! and thanks to everyone who joined in this spontaneous side project. hope you like the cards!

gathertown labyrinth

gathertown is minecraft or habbohotel meets zoom (take your pick depending on your age). chances are you'll hear about it at some point. i like it - it's fun and whilst i think zoom is great a change is also good especially if you have been on zoom for work. and it especially suits some things - a more dynamic social space for example or an event where you want different things in different spaces. it's also dead easy to use or get started in. you simply login and choose a space - a lounge, bar, conference room or whatever and can then invite some people and hang out. it's easy enough to create some interactivity through the objects. i confess to finding the videos a bit exasperating in the tutorials - i'd rather just have a plain old manual than have to go through loads of videos - that makes me sound old i know! but over christmas i set up a space for family and we met and hung out in it with interactive pictionary and the like. i also worked out how to create a room that was a snakes and ladders board so you  can roll the dice and move your avatar round the board. the grandkids love it (and the rest of us to be fair).

because rooms are designed on a grid it made me think that the labyrinth we created for st pauls back in 2000 would work because that was designed on a square grid. anyway a day of messing around over christmas and i figured out how to create a labyrinth room with interactive stations. so grace on saturday was our first on gathertown. of course it takes a bit of getting used to but it went really well. we had a bar/lounge area and a portal through to the labyrinth so you could do that when you liked. the timing felt good because the online interactive labyrinth version that has been running for twenty years is no more as of this month i think due to flash no longer being supported so it was good to give it a new lease of life. the labyrinth tracks are still magical twenty years on. we invited people in their homes to have various objects that they needed to make it work for the reflections - stone, pen, paper - that sort of thing. 

it's free to create things so you can just try it out and remains free for up to 25 people. we just stayed below that number.

this of course has to go down as a worship trick - no 83 series 4!

nine elms advent trail

betsy blatchley is a pioneer in nine elms which is a huge new housing area near battersea power station just south of the river thames in london. the focus of her pioneering is arts and community building. she has pulled off what looks like an incredible advent project no doubt with some others - nine elms advent calendar trail. every day through advent a new location is unveiled on social media which reveals a piece of art produced by an artist or community group or some sort of collaboration. but it sounds as though the whole trail is up already so you can go round it. i plan to cycle in at some point and wander round and take some photos. there is a really good instagram and twitter flow with images every day. this is such a good project for this year when you can only really meet outside. and it is an amazing project regardless of the year. a huge effort is behind this i am sure. you can download a map of the trail and follow round it. i really like the look and feel of what is happening through nine elms with the living room and other things - it's been quite a while since i last saw betsy and it looks like things have developed in really creative and good ways since we last spoke. i must catch up! great to see creative pioneering like this in london. 

i am making this a worship trick - two in a row!!!???

angels over hoxton

ben bell loves advent! when he was a youthworker he always produced something creative and now he is a priest he is still up to his old tricks i am glad to say. angels over hoxton is a street art project where two churches have worked together to angel bomb the area and encourage photos to then be posted on social media using the hashtag #angelsoverhoxton - follow the instagram here

it's a very simple idea but it makes perfect sense to take advent to the streets this year perhaps more than any other year but i always like things like this that engage in public space rather than simply inside church buildings. 

i am adding it as a worship trick. i'll blog about the other advent project that has caught my attention tomorrow.

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