jonnybaker

II, V, | I [improv and perfect cadence]

was quite a magical grace on saturday night especially as it was chris read's debut curating. the evening was on the theme of ruah - the creative breath of god and a double bass was improvised all night to symbolise this. then there were a series of cards with a sequence of numbers on which represented a mood/feeling as interpreted by chris. the numbers are chord sequences - don't worry about it if that makes no sense. grace is II, V, | I - perfect cadence. people could choose and/or were given a range of cards and on the back expressed hopes, dreams prayers for the year gone by and the one ahead. these were then randomly lined up with a regular return to grace and  the sequence of cards improvised as a musical flow carrying those hopes and prayers by chris on guitar and the double bass. all rounded off with a new flock tune with chris joined by sam on cello which was also quite amazing in the space... steve has a ropey video here.

i am making the improvised cards a worship trick - 55 in series 4

advent - a gem

this is beautiful - katie pearce has designed a lovely advent calendar with daily posts on themes such as drudge, ache, wait, dark following the journey of mary and joseph and other characters in the story with scripture, reflection, song, image and thoughts...

all incredibly tasteful. follow along. each year it seems i stumble across something new in advent, a new creative soul expressing a fresh take on the old story. katie is hugely talented and i am very happy to say she is training with us on the pioneer course at cms :)

i am making this a worship trick 54 in series 4

happy 21st grace! and a worship trick - place mat liturgy

we realised last night that it was grace's 21st birthday! had a wonderful meal with friends led by steve summers. its become an annual thing now to have a service in the context of a meal in the main space of the church. i really love doing this. one neat innovation last night which i am making a worship trick (53 series 4) was that the words and prayers were written as a place mat - such a simple idea that i am sure will be repeated! i didn't have my camera, only a phone but you get the idea...

music out of the ground - worship trick

at last night's labyrinth at grace chris read dreamed up the idea of music out of the ground - at various points headphones were there to stop and listen. ipods (in plastic bags) were buried in the ground with a track set to loop. in fact all the ipods were playing variations on the same track - cello, guitar, vocal, spoken word. they were from a forthcoming ep that chris and harry baker are putting together of contemplative poetry/soulful music combinations - watch out for it on proost later this summer. anyway it's about time for a worship trick - so this is no 52 series 4. steve has a photo set here

the design of the labyrinth is the one at ealing common by mark wallinger

in spite of us

lovely prayer from cheryl lawrie (as ever...)

In spite of our doubts,
may we recognise you in our midst:
wounded, bloody, and resurrected

in spite of our doubts,
may we know when we come face to face
with the love that is greater than all deaths

in spite of our doubts,
may we reach out to touch the wounds of the world’s pain
trusting that when grace and love surround them
they will become part of Christ’s resurrected body.

and in spite of our doubts,
may we live as though we are, too.

[worship trick 51, series 4]

practising spirituality through apps - examine

i remember when we created the labyrinth at st pauls cathedral how surprised i was that lighting a candle on a laptop by clicking on it with a mouse felt right - it was conducive to prayer, it mediated a spiritual encounter. that was back in 2000 and the world of digital technology has changed enormously...

on saturday at grace at home in the world we were exploring ignatian spirituality and in the grace facebook page is a list of suggestions of resources for people to follow that up. we did an examen at grace and one that was mentioned was an app called examine which i have since added to my phone and intend to try and use. it enables you to do the ignatian examen and it tracks the previous 90 days so you can get a sense of the flow. i'll let you know how i find it. i am making it a worship trick - 50 in series 4.

but it got me wondering what apps people use for prayer and spirtuality on a regular basis. perhaps if you have some you use, you could leave a comment, a tweet, or facebook message? it might also be that you have ideas for an app?! in which case add those as well.

word on the street

absolutley love this advent calendar - a word is made of jam jars containing water or irn bru to write a word backlit in a café window in glasgow which changes everyday. it's made by heidi gardner, peter gardner and elijah smith. thanks to doug gay for the tip off. so simple! am making it worship trick 49 series 4...

jacob's ladder - an advent calendar in sound

love this advent calendar in sound. it's an absolutley huge amount of time and effort that must have gone into creating it. the intro on the blog explains it all but essentially a speaker a day is added through advent to jacob's ladder. it's by artist sunil chandy and if you are anywhere near penge or beckenham in london go visit...

and of course this is a worship trick - 47 series 4.

#XmasByNos - tweeted grace christmas by numbers - worship trick 46 series 4

in our twentieth year in grace we are revisiting some old themes in a new playful way. last night's grace was a rework of communion by numbers. in the original, a liturgy was followed through by opening a sequence of envelopes around tables in a cafe style and following through a service together. the twist this time round was that each table needed to follow the hashtag #XmasByNos on twitter and instructions arrived via phone or ipad. it worked wonderfully well. and it was particularly amazing to have a few people joining in at the same time from other parts of the world. if you follow the hashtag you can see the instructions, link to some photos, see the tunes played and rework the service yourself.

at the bottom of this post here there are links to the various prayers used including a eucharistic prayer for christmas. i wasn't involved in the planning - it's always fun to arrive at a grace not knowing what is going to happen...

i am making it worship trick 46 in series 4

advent/christmas tunes - playlist from grace

at grace last night i was asked to create a playlist. the service was tweeted and i kept updating tunes i was playing, but a few people asked for the list so here it is. please add your own suggestions in a comment (and no christmas naffness please!)... (and i am making this a worship trick - no 45 series 4). i will blog separately about the service.

FACT magazine silent night electronic mix from 2009 
Elements Of Light - Photon
Always Waiting - Michael Kiwanuke
Believe in Me - Colonel Red
Center Your Love - Machinedrum
Oh Spirit Animate Us - Dr Dee
Power of God - Jaimeo Brown
Digital Pilgrimz - Chronicles In My Soul (this is the latest from Grace's very own Matt - available on itunes here )
Silent Night - Nathan Fake
Dreams Today - Efterklang
Gabriel's Call - Dubh
Blackout - Heights of Abraham
Story of Light - William Orbit
Gabriel - Roy Davis jnr
Gabriel - Lamb
O Come O Come Emmanuel - Sufjan Stevens
Angel - Massive Attack
Nothing To Be afraid Of - Lazyboy
Let Your Light shine - The Relatives
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down - Robert Plant
The Creator Has A Masterplan - Routine
Masterplan - Diane Browne and Barrie K Sharpe
Prince of Peace - Galliano
Stoned Together - Kruder and Dorfmeister
Jesus is For Losers - Calamateur 
Overdose of the Holy Ghost - Clark Sisters
Jesus Gonna Be Here - 5 Blind Boys of Alabama
Fourtet - For These Times
Cody Chesnutt - Til I met Thee

thanks to david derbyshire who has set up a spotify playlist of the tunes that are available on spotify here

forseeing - worship trick 44 in series 4

love this piece by tina hodgett over at her blog and am making it worship trick 44 is series 4 (yes they are still going).

forseeing: a christmas reflection

Life giver bread breaker storm sleeper blame taker

Scroll reader mask exposer sheep steerer wave treader

Temple razer truth wielder light exuder crowd amazer

Life enhancer, drinker, dancer

Cross bearer dazzle wearer law lover wine renewer

Story weaver, hurt healer, death drinker, God revealer

Lone lamb finder, Satan binder

Sight restorer, desert victor, sin forgiver, hymn singer

Morning pray-er, bondage breaker, bone straightener, peacemaker….

Bubbling up with joy river

Death defeater, grace ladler, never sinner, heart burner

Tempest husher, Spirit breather, show stealer, table turner…..

Mary worships.

Baby cries.

All the future in their eyes.

alt.advent - 26 movies!

i am excited to let you know that we have a new resource on proost for advent - alt.advent - it's 26 movies animated by jon birch telling the advent story. here's the first as a sample.

these are ideal to share round the meal table with a family or household or to share in a community or church. they look great on a laptop or ipad. the cost works out at 50p a movie which can't be bad. enjoy!

we do of course have several other wonderful advent resources - quite a few are featured on the home page but scroll through the advent and christmas seasons on the site.

you can access all of this content when you like for a year if you subscribe for the ridiculously low price of £60.

we have a proost twitter account and are running a twitter prize draw for a free subscription. all you need to do to have achance of winning is to follow @ProostTweets before 20 december.

thinking about space and what it says about how a community is organised

steve has also posted a piece called triclinium and tribune (catchy title?!). i love the way he thinks about space as an architect and then asks a series of questions about how that might reflect the values, leadership and relationships in the community (or not!). i am making this worship trick 42 in series 4

elijah complex

i posted a piece from the last grace - you grace is enough. the bulk of the service was reflecting on some of the stories of elijah the prophet. steve created a reflective piece on what he termed the elijah complex which i noticed he has posted on small ritual. i will add it as well to the liturgy post below so it appears in the list of worship tricks.

communion prayer addressing shame

i have a list of things i mean to blog about and the list stays there for a long time. i added this communion prayer from andrea on to that list ages ago and am finally making it a worship trick - that must be no 41 in series 4 - my body broken for you. she explains...

much of the liturgy and practice of the church actually re-enforces shame and that it has been used as an effective means of control by religious hierarchies. So how might I compose a prayer that expresses the liberation from shame that Christ won for us and avoid words that compound our sense of unworthiness to know love and belonging? Well here is my attempt!

i am a big fan of writing of liturgy to articulate local theology and wish more people would do it.

this piece unholy three is also amazing in its vulnerability to name and then weave together framented parts of the soul

your grace is enough

last night at grace we were exploring the them of enough riffing on 1 kings 17-19 and elijah the prophet. here's a piece of liturgy i wrote for it which i wil in due course add to the list of worship tricks...

You made a wonderful world which contained the possibility of bread
with seeds, water, yeast, wheat and chemical reaction.
Your grace is enough

You led your people out of slavery in Egypt
and they made unleavened bread in haste for the journey ahead
Your grace is enough

You gave manna from heaven morning and night
to nourish your people in their wilderness years
Your grace is enough

You sent ravens with bread to Elijah the prophet
when famine ravaged the land
Your grace is enough

You ensured that the widow’s oil and flour never ran out
but kept making bread
Your grace is enough

You gave the prophet bread from angels
when he was exhausted and depressed
Your grace is enough

You said your kingdom is like yeast
that affects the whole batch of dough
Your grace is enough

You fed 4000 and 5000 people
with a few loaves and fish
Your grace is enough

You are the bread of life
whoever comes to you shall not hunger
Your grace is enough

You shared bread and wine with friends
a meal to remember you by
Your grace is enough

You will eat bread with us in your kingdom
when all things are made new
Your grace is enough

Today...
We entrust ourselves to you
We place Grace in your hands
We offer you our oil and flour knowing that
Your grace is enough and
Your power is made perfect in weakness. Amen

there is also a related piece here - the elijah complex

liquid spirit

un-reroute the river
let the dam water be
there are some people down the way who are thirsty
so let the liquid spirit free

the people are thirsty ‘cause of man’s unnatural hand
watch what happens when the people catch wind of water hitting the banks, that hard dry land’

anyone remember the series of worship tricks on this blog? i haven't posted one for ages. it's not that i have stopped being interested in things that are soulful and evoke worship creatively. it's just been a busy few years so i have had less time!

anyway i have heard this tune liquid spirit by gregory porter on the craig charles funk and soul show a few times now over the last couple of months and his album was finally released this week. (i also loved his tune earlier this year - 1960 what). i sometimes think that alt worship and indeed me personally find it easier to create worship out of the melancholic stuff of life - a lot of the best art comes from that place. but it's wonderful to come across something occasionally that is simply infused with joy and hope. so bang this tune on and be uplifted! i have no idea what porter has in mind in writing this lyric. i expect it to get added to grace's playlist at least! here he is in action...

morning bell

ian adams runs morning bell - it's a simple e-mail and usually one sentence to reflect on prayerfully each day, a call to prayer. it gets sent via e-mail, twitter, facebook - take your pick. i realise i think i have never made it a worship trick so will add it to the series...

starting today is a series on silence with images and thoughts from me...

a mellow start to monday

my monday is starting in mellow fashion listening to nils frahm - the album is free here! before heading to the allotment - the temerature has to warm up soon so we can plant things surely?! i guess potatoes will survive whatever.

this is a table...

last night we had friends round for a meal and conversation. maundy thursday is a day particularly to remember jesus' meals with friends and to share bread and wine at the table. we chatted about the various meals and tables jesus had and was round. i invited people to complete a sentence that began 'this is a table...' and that then became a prayer of thanks as we read them out and shared bread and wine to remember

This is a table of new expectations

This is a table where everyone can come to receive

This is a table for those who haven't met Jesus before

This is a table with the Lord of the harvest and catch

This is a table where the host is often in the dependent position

This is a table where we are reconciled

This is a table where there is safety and acceptance

This is a table which welcomes, invites, provides, unites

This is a table where uncomfortable things happen

This is a table that was the natural place to be

This is a table that was the place to meet people

This is a table where strength is restored

This is a table, this is our community