jonnybaker

a shadow of my former self

a shadow of my former self, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

same sex marriage blogalogue

tony jones is blogging a conversation with rod on same sex marriage... no doubt people will get wound up but it's an important conversation in the church. tony's view that he will be supporting is that

I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state.

christ has no body now but yours

came across christ has no body now but yours on phil's new blog and am adding it as a worship trick

Christ has no Body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which he looks
Compassion on the world
Yours are the feet with which he walks
To do good
Yours are the hands with which he blesses
All the world.

Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are his body
Planning in the Kingdom
It helps, now and then, to step back
And take the long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts
It is even beyond our vision.
Lord, we know in whom we believe
We accomplish in our lifetime
Only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise
that is God’s work
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying that the
Kingdom always lies beyond us.

Lord, we know in whom we believe
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith
No confession brings perfection
No pastoral visit being wholeness
No programme accomplishes the Church’s mission
No set of goals and objectives includes everything
Lord, we know in whom we believe
This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted
Knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
Lord we know in whom we believe

We cannot do everything
And there is a sense of liberation in realizing that
This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well
It may be incomplete
But it is a beginning,
A step along the way, an opportunity for the
Lords grace to enter and do the rest.
Lord we know in whom we believe

We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between
The master builder and the worker.
We are workers,
Not master builders,
Ministers,
Not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future
Not our own.
(Oscar Romero)

Lord, we trust in you
To eternally renew our belief in you
In ourselves and in each other
In this is our joy. Amen

Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are his body.
Christ has no Body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which he looks
Compassion on this world
Christ has no Body but yours.

forge canada

forge canada has been launched

sanctus1 pocket liturgies

this month on proost we are really pleased to announce the release of sanctus1 pocket liturgies. sanctus1 are a christian community/emerging church/alt worship in the centre of the city of manchester. the book pulls together a flavour of their approach to and worship liturgies that they have developed over the last six years or so. i love this series of books. it is doing exactly what we hoped – giving voice to liturgy that is grassroots and creative emerging out of the life of communities rather than being produced by experts in a centralised committee removed from the context of the worshipping community using them. you can buy them as a physical copy or a pdf download in the books section of the proost site.

congrats laura, janet and rachel!

luminosity and a mystical quest

i read another john taylor book on the plane recently - the christlike god. you may remember me blogging about the primal vision and the go-between god...

one of the things that took me by surprise was when he writes about luminosity.

we should perhaps be ready to trust our occasional perceptions of the luminosity of the physical world and its apparent potentiality for becoming a voice and a word whereby we know ourselves to be addressed and held in relationship.

he says that the greek word for god 'theos' might easily be translated as 'shining' in some of its other greek usage. i like this idea. maybe energy or wonder might be other ways of getting at the same idea.

i recently had a conversation with someone about my photos and they said that my work had a luminosity, an almost god-like presence. this wasn't someone who is a christian as far as i know. but i was pleased and surprised with the comment and on reflction i am attracted to that sort of luminosity. i sometimes think of myself questing the light. i guess in this or this or this ?

i had a piece published in the latest issue of the london independent phortography magazine along with this photo which i submitted with this and this and this in the last issue which i was pleased about. i don't think i have posted it on the blog (at least i can't remember and can't find it). this is it...

A Mystical Quest

“Sometimes I think the people to saddest for are those who have lost or become numb to the sensation of wonder” Douglas Coupland in Life After God

In the film American Beauty Ricky films a carrier bag floating on the wind in front of a garage door for 15 minutes. As it does so he whispers ‘there is so much beauty in the world – I can’t take it in’. He films everything. For him the camera seems to enable him to look or see more closely, to pay attention, to see beauty where others might see rubbish. The mystics call this awareness. In this sense photography is mystical. At the recent annual LIP lecture Paul Hill described photography as learning how to see. He also shared his own sense of never waning interest and excitement in taking ‘small adventures’ locally with the camera on a kind of quest.

These photographs are taken in Gunnersbury Park in Ealing, which is round the corner from where I live, on one of my own small adventures. The combination of morning sunlight, frost and mist is almost electric. It has an incredible energy to it. I find myself on a morning like this questing the light, wanting to catch moments that will never be repeated before they pass. Paradoxically these sort of moments are both wild and still. There’s a wild rush of adrenaline and excitement but then in the moment of beauty I almost hold my breath, lost in wonder at the stillness. Maybe it’s being in the fast paced city of London that makes these fleeting still moments so renewing.

bob on obama

i landed back in the uk this morning. i actually got an electricity plug on the plane which was heaven as i had an article to write. after that i watched speed racer which is truly a colourful bubblegum bright delight by the wachowski brothers - i thought it was a kind of parable too that might be easily applied to spirituality and the christian industries but that's a story for another day...

talking of the christian industries, i forgot to mention that bob carlton has written a book with ariele gentiles for ys  - barack obama:an american story which is exciting. although not everyone seems to think it's exciting judging by some of the comments on marko's blog post about it. if you want a window into the polarised nature of christianity in america go and read some of the comments - at this moment up to 111!

mellow jonny at mellow johnny's

nutcase, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

this bike helmet amused me in lance armstrong's store mellow johnny's in austin (the name inspired by maillot jaune) - nutcase is the brand btw. austin is a very cool city. it's been great to get a chance to visit. it reminds me of melbourne with it's independent coffee houses, spread outness, and arty crowd. one of the coffee houses i visited was spiderhouse - i remember steve enthusing about it a few years back. weirdly shannon was in austin while i was here and had threatened to take me for coffee in austin if i ever showed up so that was neat, though i had to have a chimay tripel as they had that on tap!

bob and lisa carlton have been great hosts. i shared in the worship services at journey on sunday. their strapline is imperfect faith community. it was wonderful to visit such a relaxed, honest, open group where you felt there was a total acceptance of you no matter what. it's very rare for me to feel so at home in a church and to feel like i could happily belong there - no BS as someone put it. we had a blah... type event with people from a few of the more emerging/postmodern churches round austin of which there seem to be quite a few out of a range of denominations/movements - lutheran, episcopalian, independent, spin off from mega, house church etc. it just re-confirms that the cultural changes are causing the church to rethink everywhere. i joined in a party with a group of artists, and have met several people for coffee or in the pub and of course have been finally persuaded to join facebook. that actually took place at the spiderhouse and tim snyder caught the moment on his phone so i'll try and get the pic off him.

due to storms in houston my plane got delayed so i have ended up in austin for another night. headed back to london tonight.

i really haven't taken a lot of photos but there is a set of around 30 here - oklahoma and austin

the gift of not fitting in

many years ago i was working for a week at a christian festival, spring harvest. it was actually the last time i agreed to go (though i am going back for a week this year). it proved to be a difficult week. i had been invited to do something creative or different but when i got there the expectation clearly wasn't that. but that week someone who i didn't really know very well asked to meet me for coffee to chat. they knew nothing of the experience i was having. but one of the things they said has stuck with me since -

you don't fit and that's your gift

it reminds me of a marshall macluhan quote - the role of the artist is to create an anti-environment as a means of perception and adjustment. it was so surprising from this particular person and was a huge relief at the time. there are lots of artists, prophets, creatives, entrepreneurs, and change agents for whom this is true and it is why they are able to do what they do. cultures need people that don't fit - it's how things get moved on when they get stuck. i have been reminded of it on this trip to the US as i have met a number of people for whom that statement could be said both in okc and austin. and they are amazing gifted wonderful people. and guess what - the institutional church really doesn't get it or them too well!

i have blogged on several occasions about the church of england creating space for recognising that pioneers have a different gift/call/set of skills and acknowledging that they need these kinds of people to create new things often around or off the edges of the existing map. there is a lot of work to be done with regards to training and a number of other issues. but at least the recognition is there. again i'm left with the thought that other denominations could learn from this. if somebody is asking a lot of questions, doesn't fit, are creative - don't push them away. give them the space to create something different and new and resist the temptation to co-opt it.

the united methodist church conference in oklahoma went well. people particularly enjoyed experiencing the worship. alternative worship, because it draws on tradition and uses liturgy plays out well in mainline contexts or so it seems. i hope the church there can reflect on what to do with its creative 'don't fit' people and resists putting them in regular churches which will frustrate them and those churches probably.

i was only there for a few days so any photos were snatched on the go, but on the last day i did get to visit the bomb memorial which is stunning. i have added some photos to a set on flickr.

confession

you can find me here

hard times

hard times, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

blogging is so 2004!

so blogging is old skool now according to wired...

i tend to think i'm vaguely up to date but now not only am i a luddite not on facebook, i've never got round to twitter either let alone any of the other platforms. i simply don't have time in my life...

the web is changing that's for sure and people are finding multiple platforms for self publishing content, conversation, sharing in networks with friends and wider and so on - i.e. particpation. but there are a huge number of pathways for participation. and blogs and flickr suit me pretty well with the occasional video or article thrown in somewhere. but i'm feeling the pressure to meet jenny for a coffee to try and catch up a bit!

actually one of the comments on her post makes the most sense to me in response to this article where richard says

i think you’ve got your central platform, which is your content centre, foundation, whether you’re a vlogger, blogger, podcaster, whatever, then you have your presences around them. i’ve started to call these presences around the hub, a social aura, the aura grows out your content across the social media.

cross cultural experience

weapons, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

today when i opened my hotel room door USA today was on the mat with a picture of obama and the headline a dream fulfilled. it's still sinking in that obama has actually been elected...

yesterday when i arrved in oklahoma the sun was going down and storms were brewing which made for a dramtic sky.

jack who is hosting me here took me downtown and into a store for outdoor stuff - fishing, camping, hunting. and it was truly a cross cultural experience. bullets are along the shelves just like bread might be at the supermarket along with weapons galore!

greenbelt looking for programme organisers

greenbelt programme is mainly run and planned by groups of volunteers. i helped plan worship for several years and really enjoyed it (though it was hard work too). there are several key roles being advertised. get involved...

worship programme joint co-ordinator
literature programme co-ordinator
film programme co-ordinator

post imperial presidency?

brian walsh e-mailed me yesterday with a link reflecting on the possibility of a post imperial presidency. you may remember brian and sylvia's targums on colossians that i made a worship trick (apologies for the legibility - i must sort that first series out some time!). well they are now working on a commentary on romans and have posted a targum on romans 1 . be warned it is long and full on! in fact i am a bit nervous about posting it while i am in america... i feel like i could get deported and if it is is the first post people read who are at the conference later today what will they think?! but i am going to make it a worship trick anyway - number 44 series 3. i could never write the targum as it is - the challenge is to read and improvise in this way in my own context. it actually reminded me of a couple of asbojesus cartoons - 562 and 563.

[i still want to get a full debate between pete ward and brian walsh or at least the different ways that they come at culture which reared its head as a possibility in the summer...]

an historic day

congratulations obama! this really feels like change...

i am pete ward's disciple!

pete ward has a new book out this week - participation and mediation: a practical theology for the liquid church

i really like it. pete ward has been a huge influence in my life. when i was doing youthwork it was hearing pete and reading his book youth culture and the gospel that opened me up to realise that missiology held the clues for how to work with young people (and subsequently the emerging culture). it's a journey i have been on ever since. the opening chapter of his book tells his story and he traverses youth ministry, missiology, anglican charismatic renewal, evangelical roots and trying to subvert the defensive posture of that towards culture, and then cultural studies as a framework for making sense of culture or opening up a different way of thinking about the practice of ministry in relation to culture. i studied under pete at king's for an MA and found the cultural studies approach really interesting/useful.

the challenge of the book is language though maybe that's no surprise if culture is language games anyway (paraphrasing wittgenstein). part of the challenge of academic writing is it that it is located in a particular discipline and to interact with it uses a particular grammar and discourse. so pete uses the discourse of cultural studies so it takes a while to get with the grammar - participation, representation, mediation, animation, texts, structure, agency, flow and so on. i hope this doesn't put people off. i was used to it from my previous study and reading. in fact some of the key texts that helped me inform pete's approach here including the brilliant michel de certeau. it honestly made me realise how much i have learned from and with pete over the years for which i am really grateful...

here's what's good about the book

1. pete locates what he's up to in practical theology which is probably a smart and necessary move but in doing so he suggests that practical theology whilst it attempts to be reflective ends up causing people to step out of culture to analyse it which practitioners don't want to do. i completely agree with this. the turn to culture that seems to be happening in theology is an encouraging step realising that theology is or should be about the lived experience of faith and not an abstraction.

2. the use of cultural studies gives a different way of seeing how christian communities are involved and participate in the production of culture and worship and meaning. this is really useful for practitioners though you've got to get inside the discourse or so it seems. i tried to do precisely this in my dissertation to talk about what is going on in the ritual of the labyrinth for ritual agents/labyrinth walkers. describing this lived faith in practice and how christian communities are making meaning in culture pete says that the waters are often muddied in contextual approaches to culture - i fear this may put some people off this approach but muddied waters is a pretty common experience in mission in attempting to grow the gospel in the soil of other cultures. anyone that pretends not to be in muddied waters may be deceiving themselves!

3. participation and mediation are theological themes that pete draws on. i was so reminded of the discussions/reflections i have had on the blog recently around the book here comes everybody - everybody it seems want to talk about participation and again it is a smart (and trendy i think) move to  draw on participation in the divine life as a rich theological theme to open up how god is mediated in and through culture and then animated.

4. pete seems to have finally conceded in public that consumer culture has a few problems - hooray! i have had this argument with pete over several years. what pete was wanted to do i assume is to swing the pendulum so that people engage seriously with culture rather than react negatively to it which i understand. but this feels like his most mature work on culture to date discussing the complexities of both engagement and resistance within cultures.

this is a really short review but i wanted to write something before heading off for a week or it will be ages before get round to it. this book is going to punch open a hole for a lot of good work to follow i think. pete is opening up all sorts of possibilities for dialogue around lived faith in culture and what is going on with lived faith in worship, mission, denominations, using cutural texts and so on. i really recommend it even if you have to read some paragraphs a few times to get with the language games. as i said in the title i feel like i am pete's disciple!

clean

well following the last grace service contaminate which was utterly wonderful and crazy at the same time this saturday sees part two clean. again i have not been involved in planning it so have no idea what is involved and will be in the US so will miss it but no doubt there will be photos, movies and blogs for me to imagine what goes on?!

on the subject of the US, i hadn't quite realised that i would be flying the day after the election so that should be fun. and if you are in america you do know who to vote for ?!!!!

emergent village shifts gear

the board of emergent village in the US have released a media statement about new directions along with a lengthy blog post. this follows a survey amongst participants. it all makes a lot of sense...

tony is to step down as national co-ordinator. it will be a low cost outfit. the focus is to be and continue on social networking within the four values/commitments, along with a prophetic voice/role.

triptych blur

just messing around today and came up with triptych blur...