Grace and Moot

I managed to get along to the grace and moot resource weekend as part of the cms course I am doing alongside the role of Methodist Pioneer...

(what a contrasting range of websites, can I just say: whoever you are your presence online is everything you stand for, it really is that important! over.)

anyway that meant a trip to the smoke, and first stop was moot for what was described as a christmas party... it was good to get a feel for the place, but I didn't fancy the party too much, anyway my pal theo from orijin was playing a gig round the corner at the 100 club, so I hit that instead for a couple of hours...  On my way back to moot to catch my train team home, I realised how busy that part of the city is with bankers drinking the friday night away, it looked liked the place to be after an honest days hard work...

after a nice sofa-bed kip over in ealing thanks to Jonny's kind hospitality we headed over to grace community to find out all about their thing... It was a particularly informative session on their history and a good look back through the kind of things they had done in terms of the alternative... my favourite thing they had done was this decontamination service...

...where they stripped everyone who came of their worldly possessions, including items of Rock and Roll, before they entered the church building.  I love this tongue in cheek approach to what seems to be a hidden approach in the way contemporary church tries to strip us of our culture before we can get to meet with God, as if we are not worthy in ourselves to meet with our loving father, or as Charlie Mackasy said the other day, 'its as if God is some kind of super policeman, interested in contracts...'

In the evening the grace service was neatly built around some of si's images and based upon the advent theme of waiting... ... ... there was a 15 min period of silence in the service ... ... ...

... and then a mad scramble for the mulled wine...

I was join at grace by the lovely Lloydy and after we headed back out of the leafy suburbs towards hackney somewhere, I remember getting off the overground and seeing around 20 youfs milling about on the darkened street corners, london suddenly changed again.

After a wee dram, sofa-bed#2, pancakes/bacon/maplesyrup, #108 to bethnall green, and a tuberide, I popped up for air at the occupy london protests at st pauls.  I don't know why, and can't quite work out why it moved me to tears to be there on that frezing sunday morning, but whatever it was I had to linger and try and take it in somehow...  I was therefore late for the tate!

Part of the weekend had been given over to spending some time taking in the current exhibitions on at the Tate Modern.  I could take or leave the tacita dean 35mm film installation in the main turbine hall, but I certainley enjoyed it's 13m scale in a blackened room...

I jumped onto a free guided tour to help crack open the surrealists...

...so this comprehensive chap explained that this picasso had recently gone for $106 million...

...staying in the high numbers, this pile of handmade seeds is all that remains of the past Ai Wei Wei exhibition of some 100 million seeds spread out over the turbine hall floor back in 2010. the sun flower seeds represents the condition of the hundreds of Jingdezhen specialists who crafted them, each identical, each remarkably individual.  I felt outnumbered by the scale of the economies the seeds represented, perhaps this was the same feeling I had been experiencing at the occupy london protests at st pauls a few hours earlier...

after as spot of star spotting in the bookshop...

...we had a very nice pork dish at leon round the back of the tate, it was back over to moot, but not before a much needed revisit to the protest...

I got chatting to a guy my age, who was busy newspapermacheing his tent/house for a bit of extra insulation. He told me how he had left everything, given his house away, and sold all his possessions to come down to london and bed into the protest. He'd been there since october. regardless of your viewpoint on the protests I found it profoundly inspiring that in this day and age he was willing to go 'all out' to stand up for what he believed in.  I had to take his intentions seriously, and thanked him for his efforts,perhaps on my behalf...

the afternoon session led by Ian mobsby at Moot was of great interest. We again learned the history of moot and its intentions now that community has found itself with a new home at st Mary's, aldermary.  One particular point of interest was the idea of the exterior land around the church hosting coffee stalls to finance the workings of the community;  a simple but neat entrepreneurial move to pay one's way through their existence.

I couldn't hang around for the evening service as I had a train home to north wales to catch... It had been a very full weekend and a really great way to hang out with like-minded souls... thanks to all...

Utterly inspiring weekend at grace and moot, I'll blog about that in a min...

Utterly inspiring last couple of days at home here in North Wales... I may keep this under my hat for now, although I don't think I can contain my excitement... we'll see...

Anyway Ric is keeping real over here:

http://iaskforwonder.com/street-art-adventures-4

I really love this 2nd image he has produced in Parson's cross estate... (don't worry my middle class gog's I won't be trying this at home...)

Look up

A few years ago my pal Si Smith decided to kick about Leeds; 'looking up'... I'm not sure if he was blogging at the time (si do you have a link?) but I remember him showing me some nice sketches he'd done of the interesting architecture found hidden from the social conscious above the blinding shop fronts and SALE signs and posters.  The work ultimately helped to contribute his 'Stations of the ressurection' piece for CPAS


I've been spending time in Colwyn Bay trying to reacquaint myself with the town I spent a lot of my teenage weekends in, skating about on my blades through car-parks and alleyways, trying to find the best jumps and grinds.  When I was a teenager, trying to get served, and trying to meet girls, I certainly didn't spend much time 'looking up'.

Its quite something really around the Bay, this parade above The Prince of Wales reminds me of Chester...

In fact everywhere you look, as long as its not towards the ominous 'bay shopping centre', you get some different style and period, built for purpose, built to last.

I also managed to find time to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes; looking at redundant churches and big old buildings... these two were on my hit list...

How cool is that? its also up for sale at around £120k...  mind you I was also told that the building opposite is the local spiritualist centre... duh duh duuuh!


This one felt somehow less appealing... but still cool...

It got me thinking about getting into some of the spaces if possible... ( a favourite pastime back in Leeds... )
Alan Whitfield sent me a link to some of the places he's been into to photograph, I love the idea of his exhibition on empty spaces which was exhibited inside a current antiques shop...

...and of course my good bud Barnaby Aldrick's Urban explorations around Leeds which included the olympic swimming pool before they were pulled down.

There's something about these buildings that pulls on our guilty subconscious, nagging away at our lack of stewardship, or broken our relationships, or our sense of selling out, or our buckling under the weight of progress.  


Anyway these buildings are beautiful, and I need to make more of an effort to notice them in my day to day, they help us to live a little better somehow, to restore, to regenerate and savour in the light of the new and the prefabricated.  

commissioning

My mother in law referred to it as a coronation, in fact i was being commissioned.  I didn't really sit at ease with the whole idea to be entirely honest, but in fact it grew on me as the ideas for the service evolved.

There was no real way of pleasing everyone, or avoiding some criticism, but overall, once I'd come to land some fixed ideas about how it should feel; it flowed very naturally, and I was really pleased with the service as a whole.

It was jam packed with ideas based around the brokenness from which a pioneer can begin to work out of. I'd been musing on Jonny's blogging on newness all month and remembered this idea of darkness and unknowing, where the pioneer needs to go into that 'liminal' space to which there may not be a definitive end in sight, if at all.  There were ideas of the letting go of a comfortable 'methodical' (crumbs!) church environment to which we have become accustomed, to acknowledging the brokenness we often encounter beneath the surface of the routine. The promise of restoration through the gospel messages, and the hope of newness in breaking the ground and planting a new seed.

It was a challenge to the church in parts, but also a celebration of the arts and thankfully it was a thoroughly multimedia experience. There was a real sense of denominations coming together, and overall I felt encouraged by the people I met throughout the day...  I'm not sure if its really possible to clarify the role of the pioneer in a neat encapsulated way, but it felt to me like I'd managed to provide people with a mental reference point to the kind of thing to expect. It was certainly very different to what people had expected I think, and that seems like a positive thing so far.

The video might give you an idea how the service 'felt', and the reading 'we are creatures of comfort (liminal space)' was written by Jenny Baker

stupidly after the service I asked one chap who was being rather nice and introducing himself to me whether he was into this kind of thing?
'NO! not at all!' he said and wandered off...

an interesting conversation

I was looking for a mirror in the local antique (junk) shops round here...

'do you have a mirror without a frame that I could buy cheap please?'
'whats it for?'
'to smash... for an 'art' project' (lie)

man fumbles around the back of a large display cabinet containing all the knots that the scouts used to have to learn.

'I bought this for a tenner and was going to do it up... but...'
'I'll give you fifteen then...'
'in that case you can have all these other bits back here too...'
'I don't really want them, anyway that would add up to 21 years of bad luck!!' (plays the colloquialism card)
'not if you mean it!'
'really?'
'if you do it by accident then its bad luck, if you do it on purpose then it isn't...'
'that's just as well? i take it it's cash only'
'you can get cashback at the post office'

I walk up to the post office and back...

''So what's this then some kind of art project?'
a moment of temporal blindness ensued as my life's ministerial experience unfolded in a flash in a corner of my brain, all the times I'd covered my intentions with an easy covering story melted into a somehow all empowering knowledge that I was now being paid to tell the Truth...
'I'm a minister and this mirror will be used to translate a message...'
I've no idea why I said that, I've no idea if I am a minister or not? I've no idea what I am, I've no idea what I'm saying, or where I'm going...
'a minister??'
'a minister. A Methodist minister??! (blimey nora)  we'll get everyone to write everything they hold dear about the church on this mirror and then smash it up...'
The antique dealer didn't miss a beat...
'You'll never believe it but I just threw away about ten old pictures of Conwy Methodist Ministers from the 1850's, they came in frames which I was interested in, and I think we binned the pictures. Believe it, I should never throw anything away... they all looked like hippies too...' nods my way...
'that was around the time of great welsh revival in these parts'
'well here's a story, my partner, she lives in the actual house that the guy who started that revival was born in. He went of to America and came back and started preaching in the local churches'
'He (Evan Thomas) preached in a call to action revival style.  He asked people to make a commitment in their hearts and come to the front by way of recognition and affirmation through witness of that commitment. It brought whole communities to turn to the church and to accept God as their saviour...'
'well there was all sorts of strange goings on at that place, there was a ghostly spirit, which used to move the workmens' tools about the place.  One time a man's tools we moved to the windowsill on the other side of a room across a wet cement floor... no one knew how that happened...'
'perhaps it was the great wars that ended the whole thing?'
'you look very young to be a minister if you don't mind my asking your age?'
'I'm 32.'
'blimey, well I'm a Catholic... non practising of course... if you come in here on a saturday you'll meet my mrs and she'll tell you all about it; the house and everything else...'
'could I get a receipt for these mirrors please, do you mind?'

------------

I could go on and on about this tale, but I won't. All I'll say is that in my searchings for the roots (radicals) of the welsh revivals, and in a mental plotting and landmarking of the history of the methodist church in wales; I seem to be stumbling upon some interesting tales and urban legends left over in the swirling remnants of an ancient culture's memory. 

There's something of a spiritual story in the everyday, the day to day, and the 'by the way', there's a glimpse of life in the seemingly hidden; beneath the surface of the now accustomary catatonic glaze of consumerist brainwash; deep and dying in the confusions of a lost language and buried tradition, there's a yearning for a spark of explorative initiative and an intrigue into 'what lies beneath' the boarded up spiritual chasm left dormant inside every one of us.

I'll probably go along again to that shop on saturday...

first week

I had a great day on tuesday:

I met with Alan Whitfield, who I'd blogged about here and who was kind enough to give me some time.
We had plenty to chat about and I also learned that he's a youth officer in the bay too. We talked about making videos, exhibitions, camera groups, future blinc events, colwyn bay, prophetic art, local art scene, pioneering church, etc etc...

In the aft was a fairly heavy Link-International trustee meeting

In the eve I headed over to Abergele for the first greenhouse collective meeting for people interested in social entrepreneurship in the North Wales area... I met with Jay Butters, and had an inspirational conversation about boomeranging and the idea of the spirit 'within the gathering'... And also caught up with Ruth Cole who runs soup and food kitchens for the homeless throughout Rhyl, the bay and Caernarfon from what I could gather.  It seemed like a most excellent rootsy project which I hope to get chance to visit in the coming weeks... Also in conversations: colwyn bay pier, alternative church, pioneering, ymuno festival, coffee campervans, bothy (in brief), grapes and art in worship...

I had a rubbish day on weds as I didn't sleep until 3am and as a result missed my train to 6.30am train to Oxford cms training... I spent the day trying to imagine the days course from home and attempting to get train tickets refunded...

the calorimetry of consumption

I just managed to catch damien hirst's exhibition at leeds gallery last month thanks to a last minute under the radar fly-through. I'm more than happy i did... totally inspirational! I don't know if he (hirst) does it for you, but for me he's bang on the money, although often not quite as interactive I'd really like, he never seems to lack being able impact deeply on my senses...

For me this wall paper from the 'pharmacy restaurant', a previous and now reincarnated installation from the late 90's, is the stand-out piece as it shouts wildly at my quest for artistic theological reflection, challenging me to engage and refusing to slip my memory...  It shows various pills, solutions and remedies each rebranded with title of an old testament story... Talk about kwik fix yerself religion!  If I get the umption I'll try and reflect fully on this in a later blog, the only problem is I can't seem to get a decent sharp copy of the image anywhere... help!

I circled this sculpture several times; enchanted by her beauty I made surreptitious mental notes under the disturbing scrutiny of the leeds gallery security guard... At around 8 foot I was captivated for a good ten minutes... Hirst's angel seemed to have a lot of human bits inside...

There was the usual innocent and helpless mammal frozen in formaldehyde... I wish it were a lamb...

And a splendid collection of anatomy...

Profound and provocative would set the scene, but I find hirst more than helpful to lead my reflections on the human state, and indeed a place to start my mental act of worship.  He systematically takes on the dark inner, that banality of desire, the calorimetry of consumption... each a day to day experience yet all issues so often ignored by the church...  If we are to attempt to address the pain of real life through the arts then here lies the benchmark.


The arts has all the creativity in the world to offer the church, and the church has the audience required for the arts;

   for me the two should indeed be at one.  The artist to encourage the difficult question, the congregation to address it's own brokenness, each individual at their own pace through a spirit guided sense of reciprocity.   The priest's role is to introduce one to the other, and to invite God into the mix.

Here in my communities I feel my challenge is to build up facilities capable of performing such a function... if you like we can call it church... I have a few other names for it but that's another blog for another time...

day 1 stuff...

Its day one stuff over here today... after a couple of weeks of avid suspense; we finally managed to get a start date landed for my new post.  Most of this was achieved by the tireless efforts of my new boss Cris.

So today is the day! I'm at my desk, like I am every other day, but today feels different, I'm in full-time employment by a large organisation, and I'm back on the payroll after some 6 years!

goodness!

going to church

I went to church twice yesterday...


The first was to visit a family service being held at the local church... I shuddered with fear with the complexities involved in trying to think too deeply on the reality of what was going on there to be honest...


The second was an evening service at the local Methodist's.  I kind of been encouraged to go along by the powers that be to 'show my face'. Pip came along with eyrn in pushchair, a quick peek through the front door window and Pip decided to take eryn home... I braved on solo though ,and actually quite enjoyed the peaceful, small, semi circular gathering of maybe 15 post 50's members.  The message was really powerful, and quite challenging, pushing candid issues of the banking crisis, alcohol and such matters...


For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. eph.6:12


I also met the superintendent (boss) who I found very supportive of the pioneering role indeed, and the treasurer for the circuit, who was also very encouraging....


I walked home in the dark quite cheered...

Garth where art thou?

having discussed my stabs at LT with my dad, he mentioned that Garth Hewitt wrote a song about the Oscar Romero, the assinated catholic bishop but I cant seem to find a clip of the song anywhere online...

liberation!!

pushing through with the idea of planting my notes into prezi (for some of the more weighty articles on the course modules) I made a stab at some liberation theology...

Its was a hefty read, which I very much enjoyed, although today, next day, I don't seem to be able to remember a thing about it!

http://prezi.com/b-_x_v7hzzff/liberation-theology-with-cathy-ross/

methodist church leadership pioneering video

this is a very helpful video about where the methodist church is at with the idea of pioneering...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx4XV39RZHk&feature=player_embedded

welsh revival

a couple of weeks ago, i felt a real need to find out more about the history of the welsh church.  one obvious place to start, i felt, was by finding out some more about what is known as the welsh revival.

having asked around a bit about this, i was pointed towards dyfed wyn jones over on ynys mon (the isle of angelsea).  dyfed was kind enough to meet me for an hour or two in bangor, and basically download as much as he could of his research into my comparatively tiny brain.

For some fantastic blogging and theological and historical research on the Welsh revivals catch up with Dyfed on his blog here


heres something of the ideas i conjured up in note taking.  (these are not direct quotes nor  any attempt at an organised order, rather a mixture of my musing on the theme, fueled by the conversation):

Historical landscape:

Romans brought Christianity into wales 407ad
After they left 6C became the age of the saints 
'Two pilgramages to st Davids equaled one to rome'
The saints kept the faith alive. The age of the saints in Wales and britian generally, delevoped the faith slightly differently to europe as europe had the pope and the empire. (controlled theology) 

They celebrated Easter on a diffent date.
In the takeover of ancient church by church in rome, St augustine missionary imposed faith of rome on faith of Britain...
Need to separate imperial influences on the true faith. Ie neoplatanism (after plato) 

Charles finney 1836
faced 'Sheep stealing' opposition from the calvinists

At the time the Church of England was in Wales, but dispised by the welsh going chapel. Then next biggest org calvanists begun about the same time as the wesley brothers. The baptists had been in wales too since early 1600s not as strong but quite influential (south west wales). Congregationalist's same size as baptist also in wales since 1600, then smallest was the weslian congregations.

Revivals:
From 1735/1905 the were some 20-25 revivals in wales national and regional. The most well known was the welsh revival of Evan Roberts 1905 but another revival in 1859 also known as revival as Methodists returned from revivals in america. Since 1905 no revival but something happened in 40s and in the universities in the 70s. Many young leaders were touched in the 70s and now the make up much of the leadership today.
Something about welsh church that likes idea of Wales being known as the land of revivals. Especially for the welsh people...

Key people and the charismatic liberalists:Martin lloyd jones left medical prof to be presbaterian minister 1940s. Reacted strongly to liberalism. Persuaded folk to leave chapels and form new evangelical movement. Even since the 60s people have been leaving chapels and still evangelicals still don't sit comfortably along the chapels.
How do you refer to yourself if evangelically you're already on the back foot.
Liberalism - not much life, no young people, dispassionate. Lack of vision? struggling to keep buildings going. A cultural expression of the faith. Personal relationship with Jesus?. lack of local mission?
What were the revival triggers?

Concern within the churches about their spiritual condition. Folk getting fired up through prayer which draws people into the churches.

Charles techniques - alter calls. Esp 1859 revival.
People have pressures on them: poverty, industrial disasters, disease which generates fear, which drives people to find answers and turn to the church... Social pressures lead people to do different things in different eras.
(PESTEL analysis of current pressures??)


The prophetic in Wales??Theological and church historians don't have many folk who understand the charismatics. Nobody has questioned the role of the prophet or the apostle in wales.
Densil morgan )the span pf the cross) never even looked at the charismatic perhaps even dismissive...
But God doesn't leave any generation without a prophetic voice...

Where is the power of prayer
What is prayer?
Does God change his mind
Contemplative prayer/monastic prayer

Evangelicalism is influenced imperialism... Need to separate out and see the body.

Andrew perriman blog?
Gwyn williams )evangelical)
Roy godwin faldbrenin new monasticism (retreat)?

Judas

Heres a song called Judas by Lady Gaga on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc&feature=watch_response_rev

its had over 108 million views

here's the lyrics:

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/lady_gaga/judas.html

its all fairly controversial of course, but i still find it fascinating that people are so enraged/emotionally stirred/interested/compelled by the biblical content of this song. OK its fairly loose and paraphrased and its a rubbish pop song etc etc but in terms of language its interesting to see which choice of words push which buttons with the masses...

Just have a scan through some of the comments on the lyrics link above!

In its simplest form this song might just leave a whole load of people quite confused... but lets face it, isn't that what jesus kept doing with his parables, leaving more questions then answers, annoying the teachers of the time, and generally creating a scene??

There's a couple of deeper expositions of what gaga might be up to over here:

http://cathyloveee.blogspot.com/2011/05/lady-gaga-judas-video-and-song-meaning.html

I like the idea of gaga, putting herself in the place of mary magdalene, and that mary decides she can't stand in judgement over judas as she realises own fallen condition...

although I'm sure we could all begin to tear all of this to pieces quite easily theologically, I do quite like how gaga's use of simple language and form actually seems to resonate with a lot of people, and certainly remains provocative, whilst engaging with a complex theological discussion.

for further interest: I love this and the whole self made 'xtranormal' video concept which is a great way to express any conversational idea in an interesting way. If you're feeling a little out of touch with lady gaga, then hers a slight take on her fame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwLSo0lY0A&feature=related

if you want to make your own video by typing a script, you can do here:

http://www.xtranormal.com

getting into John Drane

i've made a concerted effort to get into one of our heavier readings for this first module... its chapter 5 of John Dranes 'After Mcdonaldization'.  I must admit its well within my current reach and i really enjoyed the gentle slog through...

I decided to try my first prezi here:

http://prezi.com/g2du2akiwoxu/present/?auth_key=5zwxkm2&follow=gavinmart@hotmail.com

travelling again...

it takes 4 hours to drive to oxford, and 4 hours to drive home... i'm committing to it! there's going to be 10 trips this side of christmas and then the pace eases up...

yesterday we explored theological reflection... we're tasked with producing a couple of reflective pieces over the next 5 weeks or so...

this post is full of links for some reason...

it all started with a breakout pioneer gathering last week. i think the crux of it was that i came away on the friday knowing that i would be starting a foundation degree course in pioneer leadership the following wednesday. its run by jonny baker and pals who, himself forged the way forward for fractal edge (an old band i was in) to work in london all those 15 or so years ago... we've kept in touch through proost but it's great to share some time again...

its tuesday night and i travel to oxford tomorrow for day 1

(you never know what is round the corner!!)