Smallritual

Blog archive October 2005

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27.10.05 / 01 / banksyphone

i keep passing this banksy on the way to get a sandwich at lunchtime, so i finally gave in and snapped it. makes great phone wallpaper.



y'know, banksy is so prolific and well-known his work is in danger of becoming an official part of the london streetscape. i doubt anyone in shoreditch or camden would remove his artwork. that would be vandalism. how long before the guidebook entries? how long before the walking tours?


24.10.05 / 01 / why am i scared of revival?

why does the thought of revival scare me? isn't it what christians are supposed to be praying for, that our society should turn to god? the problem is, all the images in my head are creepy. religious mania. weeping and wailing in the streets. censorship. rigidity and punishment. zealous preachers. fear god and cast out the sinners. enforced niceness.

how come 'revival' never means good coffee and free wifi, everywhere? really challenging and confrontational art? the development of cheap sustainable technology? an end to greed and overwork? a good wage for the [formerly] poor? what would a holy, as opposed to religious, society look like?

Comments:

That sounds like the sort of revival I'd be keen for; although I'd like to move beyond the typically western/priviledged ideas of coffee and wifi... However, meeting the Christ in confrontational art, cafes and social transformation sound much better than a long(er) religious meeting.

craig mitchell

I always thought that revival is always happening at a micro level, i.e. the level of the heart. If it's stylised within the parameters of certain imagery, what does it matter. At a macro level, you maybe need to come to Australia. Churches that are having great impact on their communities (sometimes known as revival) are not devoid of good coffee, music, technology &/or people with credibility. I have no experience of the UK church.

mick mac

that's not what i mean by revival. i'm thinking of the great outpouring of the spirit on society, the supernatural conversion of huge numbers that would flood into the churches, whole society repenting and turning to god etc that was much prayed for in england in the 1990s. constantly promised, never appeared [as you have noticed].

if *that* sort of revival happened kath and kim would be off the air in no time at all ;)

steve

revival is a cultural form, right, and the players, by and large, know their roles, they have clear expectations and create what they expected. Unfortunately the Spirit has her own mind and never seems to know her cues, she's forever entering at the wrong time, and, usually, the wrong people. She's uncooperative really

m b millar

You know, I've been thinking this very same thing for years, but you crystallised it into a few sentences.

wood

see... here i was starting to think about this kind of revival and what it might look like in australia and you just had to go and ruin the revived world by removing kath n kim...

darren wright

It probably won't help then to tell you that last Sunday Kath & Kim aired in our church as a prelude to an open forum on Baptism. I never realised they were so Spiritual

mick mac

what if revival was happening right here right now, but it just doesn't look like we thought it would or should. what if the Holy Spirit is convicting people and they meet with others in cafes, galleries, public parks, and private homes to explore this thing called Christianity and this bloke called Jesus. just because they are not flocking IN to churches,doesn't mean a revival is not sweeping the earth as we post :)

kel


07.10.05 / 01 / korporate karting

i've been working for the last few months on the interiors of unilever house. today unilever took the construction team karting at kings cross. i haven't driven for about five years, and had not done karting, so i was slow anyhow - but the heat and the vibration made me car-sick so i had to give up before i threw up. it probably wasn't the best day to do it, i was tired and hadn't had much to eat the day before. and my previous vehicle was a camper van - which you don't drive fast into corners if you want to live. i got a bottle of champagne for being last. we then went for a huge meal in islington which helped me recover, but i'm still pretty wiped out from the week's work and am heading to bed.

i've decided i don't do fast. my brain works very fast sometimes, verbally, intellectually, but fast sensory input eg fast driving and i can feel the processor struggling - whoa, slow down. just let me go away and digest that...

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