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Blog archive August 2006

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31.08.06 / 03 / greenbelt 3 - dream

photos on flickr of dream's service 'travel notes for a rescued people'


31.08.06 / 02 / greenbelt 2 - grace photos

grace communion by numbers photos on flickr. the original service was done at grace in may, but it went so well that we decided to do it again at greenbelt in spite of having decided earlier not to do anything this year. it went really well, there was a great buzz but it was serious too where appropriate. i had a strong sense of god's presence during the sharing of bread and wine. it seems to embody some of our key values: we set up a series of conditions or actions and people are then self-directed; the content is fairly open-ended; lots of people get to be leaders, at random; the team are just facilitating - waiters, in fact!

we did consider doing it as a mainstage service in future, but the thought of stuffing 1000 envelopes, each with nine smaller envelopes, is rather daunting...

Comments:

we could do it with the big screen giving out instructions, and just give the groups a bag of 'random' items that use becomes apparent as they work through the steps.

adam baxter

hi steve. i think it would be a great mainstage service for the sunday morning. we could work it out somehow i bet

moya ratnayake


31.08.06 / 01 / greenbelt 1 - fuse factory photos

fuse factory at greenbelt on flickr. i met them - well two of them - at epicenter in austin in march 2001 when they were called jimini and specialising in youth worship. when i got back i said to jonny, who was then at youth for christ, that they'd be great for greenbelt - five years later here they are, but not as youth ministry. the four-screen enclosure in which sami sang was particularly effective - we thought it would be great to do that in the middle of a space rather than on a stage.


18.08.06 / 02 / the side effects of urethane

lack of blogging is down to spending more time at the gym, doing grace flyer and stuff for greenbelt and working very long hours. my favourite thing atm is the side effects of urethane which is "a dynamic collective working and living in London whose sole purpose is to explore and promote the symbiotic relationship between skateboarding and art / photography / design / architecture." check out their exhibitions especially aalto and a surface in between [below] - can't think how i missed this stuff.

[2020 note: see also this 2016 article in kingpin magazine]

Asurfaceinbetween

Comments:

holy crap that is some cool stuff

daniel miller

many thanks.

badger
The Side Effects of Urethane

badger from tseou [rich holland]


18.08.06 / 01 / church site to porn site

just got an email warning me that one of the group links on alternativeworship.org leads to a porn site! i've removed it from the listings though i was tempted to leave it as a surprise. it's a bit of an urban legend that this will happen if you don't renew your domain in time but it's the first time i've actually seen it occur.

i wonder who on the list has the best porn name? i guess there's two categories - group name and blog name.

i did try to turn the grace site into a porn site for february's 'discipline' service [below], but someone was offended so it had to go. the phrase 'dirty mac worship' had an odd effect - people tended to see one meaning of 'mac' or the other but not both at once which is needed for the joke to work.

Discipline_flyer

Comments:

somehow i think the EC's fondness for replacing C's and T's with X's might lend itself to this...

daniel miller

This ad would make me come to your worship. It's totally hysterical. I have a litmus test for if I can trust people (or perhaps more accurately, if I can hang out with them): do they think the Simpsons is funnier than shit, or do they find it offensive. I guess I'm hard to offend. The issue for me is that to unchurched people, the stereotype of Christians is the opposite: we are easily offended, thus unapproachable. I myself have been berated by other Christians for swearing, but to me, skillful use of profanity is an evangelical tool....much like your S&M poster. Keep it up I say.

nadia bolz-weber

up where, precisely? ;)

i should have said, the person offended was someone i didn't want to needlessly hurt, hence apology and withdrawal [ahem!]. obviously there are people it's fun to offend...

steve

Yeah, I love to see people freak out when they learn I'm a seminary student and future Lutheran pastor...I'm pretty heavily tattooed, and look (and sound) about as far away from what one might expect from the clergy. I love to mess with people's ideas about Christianity and the church. Conversely, I also enjoy having my own mind changed about things I am certain of...I find it to be a gift rather than something to be feared.

nadia bolz-weber


07.08.06 / 01 / the new tract

the old tract was designed to frighten people into commitment. the old tract only worked in christendom, where people knew the story but needed a final push.

the new tract will seduce you.
it suggests new possibilities.
it embodies values.
you want to live up to it.
it's a story you want to be part of.
it's a piece of heaven.
you want to take it with you.
the new tract is a gift.
it cheers you up any time you see it.
[maybe it's a kind of street art.]
it withholds its message, is enigmatic.
it is not reducible to one meaning.
you come back for more.

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