After a very enjoyable mug of tea in the sunshine Sunday evening began in true Anglican style with Choral Evensong. It was sung for us by Accord who promised Evensong with a twist - if you come expecting this to be some kind of radical in your face re rendering then you would have been somewhat disappointed. The main twist was that the Magnificat was sung with words other than Crammer's and to the tune of Amazing Grace. The other twist was the Choir members were conducting the service in its entirety, which included one of them giving a Provisional Blessing at the end. There isn't anything wrong with that as such, Evensong can and often is conducted by members of the Laity, but the lack of someone acting as a minister separate from the Choir blurred the boundary between Divine Service and a Concert. Also given that there was a small handful of Priests there (and that is just the ones known personally to me) it seems a missed opportunity to have given a Provisional Blessing rather than wheeling one of them out to give the Blessing.
After Evensong I went to hear Brian McLaren on Naked Spirituality - I am not sure exactly what I was expecting, perhaps a Christian retelling of Gok Wan's How to Look Good Naked. I arrived to to find the Big Top full to it 3200 capacity and not a lover of crowds I hovered at the edge and reversed judgement. He began and it became clear what was on offer was a fairly straight forward reworking not of Gok Wan but of Fowler's stages of faith development, admittedly Brain was only going to give us 4 compared with Fowler's 7. Also there didn't seem to be anything particular to commend the title 'Spiritual' and so half way through stage 1 I left.
Jim Cotter has produced a collection of RS Thomas's poems accompanied with a DVD in which Jim reads the poems against the backdrop of the places RS Thomas was writing about. The session, which was a viewing of parts of the DVD, was hosted by Jim's two collaborators in the project as Jim himself was unable to attend due to ill health - clearly a major disappointment for many there who hoped the Venerable Cotter's shadow might fall across them. There was a gentleness about the coming together of RS Thomas' words and the images of the Llyn - images of the Llyn, as noted in the DVD, in uncharacteristically sunny and tranquil moments. Missing the wildness of the land you also tended to miss the ragged layer of RS's poetry. He is a complex man and his place in Welsh literary and cultural life is contested, encounters with RS Thomas should never be simple - you have to contend with the man, with the words, with those who claim him as a hero and those who denounce his as the epitome of every cultural wrong. I would need to spend more time with Jim's collection to really find if it is part of the complex journey.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Greenbelt 2011 - Communion - Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies - Michael Mitton
On Sunday morning the programme is cleared to allow everyone to go to a massive 'Communion' at the mainstage. The Communion, in my experience divides Greenbelter into two groups - those who feel obliged to go and those who don't. For those of us in the second group this is time better spent catching up on sleep, allowing all the experiences of the weekend so far to settle in the brain, time to wonder aimlessly and get a coffee. I struggle to recall anyone every talking about the Communion as their highlight of the weekend. The major problem is that it is an "Ecumenical" celebration of the worse kind - not a celebration rooted in one tradition but open to all, but a celebration denuded of any thing that might offend, it is traditionless, soulless.
As I wondered contentedly this year I overheard one sentence of the service - the leader explained "and now we break the bread - and one of the things that we remember is that Jesus died for us.." - this set me off on a rant 'one of the things' - ONE OF THE THINGS - the moment of fraction is the moment of Jesus' death, of the earthquake, of the ripping of the temple curtain, for me a moment of singular meaning. I will happily to admit this might be a particular theology of the Eucharist, but the problem with the Greenbelt Communion is that it is based on the belief that we can ignore the differences but leaves it bringing ten thousand people together either to do their own thing or to do nothing at all.
With the Communion over the programme restarted and I managed to get myself in the right place at the right time for Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies . I was at Van Mildert in Durham with Harry and from the first night on the corridor as he played Brown Eye Girl there was always an anarchic joyfulness about him but there was always a slight worry that graduation would bring a pin-striped suit and a job in the city. While it did that to many of the great rebels I knew in Durham, Harry is just the same as he always was. It was great to be in the packed venue, packed with people and packed with joy - Harry and his Wellies are one of my favourite bands - they are full of life, characterful without affectation.
Now on a roll of right places and right times I heard Michael Mitton . The talk was called "The homing instinct" and while I enjoyed listening to him, he has the voice of Nicholas Parsons, I will be honest as say that I can't really remember the content of the talk - maybe I will have to download it from the Greenbelt website and listen again!
As I wondered contentedly this year I overheard one sentence of the service - the leader explained "and now we break the bread - and one of the things that we remember is that Jesus died for us.." - this set me off on a rant 'one of the things' - ONE OF THE THINGS - the moment of fraction is the moment of Jesus' death, of the earthquake, of the ripping of the temple curtain, for me a moment of singular meaning. I will happily to admit this might be a particular theology of the Eucharist, but the problem with the Greenbelt Communion is that it is based on the belief that we can ignore the differences but leaves it bringing ten thousand people together either to do their own thing or to do nothing at all.
With the Communion over the programme restarted and I managed to get myself in the right place at the right time for Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies . I was at Van Mildert in Durham with Harry and from the first night on the corridor as he played Brown Eye Girl there was always an anarchic joyfulness about him but there was always a slight worry that graduation would bring a pin-striped suit and a job in the city. While it did that to many of the great rebels I knew in Durham, Harry is just the same as he always was. It was great to be in the packed venue, packed with people and packed with joy - Harry and his Wellies are one of my favourite bands - they are full of life, characterful without affectation.
Now on a roll of right places and right times I heard Michael Mitton . The talk was called "The homing instinct" and while I enjoyed listening to him, he has the voice of Nicholas Parsons, I will be honest as say that I can't really remember the content of the talk - maybe I will have to download it from the Greenbelt website and listen again!
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Greenbelt 2011 - Ikon
Giving Ikon a post of their own because I thought their 'event' was fabulous - ‘Based On A True Story’.
They bring together music, poetry, prose, movement, costume into a total immersive experience - you are lost in the encounter. And yet some of the power is that they don't take it too seriously - and are willing to puncture an intense moment with a witty twist or yet a cheap pun.
Ikon have a reputation for a certain level of shock value - one Greenbelt event, I am told, included a prolonged sequence in which a Bible was torn page from page (perhaps it is a game to see if you can break that Greenbelt liberal - find the spot where they turn Pharisee and draw a line) - but this event was not in your face in quiet the same way and yet it was full of challenge.
It opened with the following:
This really was 'the' point of the event - and as I have said I am a good post-modernist and so it is a point that falls easily into my ears. When this is applied to conflicts it becomes an opportunity for liberation - Ikon applied to their native Belfast - conflicts, particularly those between neighbours, find much of their energy because the two sides tell different stories about the same event. Greenbelt always has a lot going on about Palestine - and there is a conflict between people who have been telling stories for thousands of years and the power of the stories overwhelms any attempt to get to 'facts' or 'truth'. What is needed is a way to acknowledge that stories can be inreconsilable even when they speak of the very same event.
They bring together music, poetry, prose, movement, costume into a total immersive experience - you are lost in the encounter. And yet some of the power is that they don't take it too seriously - and are willing to puncture an intense moment with a witty twist or yet a cheap pun.
Ikon have a reputation for a certain level of shock value - one Greenbelt event, I am told, included a prolonged sequence in which a Bible was torn page from page (perhaps it is a game to see if you can break that Greenbelt liberal - find the spot where they turn Pharisee and draw a line) - but this event was not in your face in quiet the same way and yet it was full of challenge.
It opened with the following:
Every Story Is Made Up
Every story is made up. Have you read ‘The BFG’? Roald Dahl? Yeah, it was made up. It’s a good story though. Every story is made up. Did you ever hear the one about the Moon Landing? 1969, man on the moon and all that. Yeah, it was made up. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. But the story you know is just a story that was made up. Just words… about an event. And I bet Neil Armstrong has a different story to you. It’s a good story though.
Greenbelt 2011 - London Catholic Worker - Keith Skene - Luke Bretherton
Saturday at Greenbelt started with a bit of a fail as I turned up a full 24 hours early for Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies only to have a second fail a couple of hours latter finding myself 24 hours early for Michael Mitton at which point I finally got the hand of the programme!
So the proper start of the day was Catholic Mass offered by London Catholic Worker an unreconstructed socialist expression. This throw back to the politics and fashions of the last Seventies when encountered in the midst of Yummy Mummy liberalism of Greenbelt is quiet a tonic perhaps teaching us that things should be rough around the edges. After giving the chalices to the Eucharistic Ministers Fr Martin noticed a lack of Purificators and had to search in a brightly coloured satual from which he eventually retrieved some crumpled cloths which after inspecting for stains were felt suitable - and I thought back to Blesséd and knew if there had to be a choice it was the London Catholic Worker that I would choose.
Next I found my way to a talk by Keith Skene who was speaking about "tribalism versus diversity" - he was an engaging speak and great example of the richness that we gain when people break out of their academic silo and speak across disciplines (well expect when their name is Dawkins!). Using his background in biology he illuminated a key discrepancy in the Darwinian theory of evolution - that while Darwin states that competition drives evolution research now shows that it is those times when competition drops (eg mass extinctions) when evolution going into over drive. Having shown in biology competition does not occupy the role of positive driver usually credited it he asked he same question of human society and almost left it hanging in the air - avoiding pushing the metaphor to breaking point.
I then took up the role of groupie and went to hear Luke Bretherton who was one of the co-leader of the MA I took at Kings a few years ago and was pleased to find several of my fellow students had also wound there way to the master's feet. It was amazing to see him in jeans and t-shirt rather than the terrible cord suits that accompanied him to our classes and yet the energy was just as intense - carrying you along even when you have lost the plot of the talk struggling to keep up with the vast historical sweep he deploys to explain the present moment.
So the proper start of the day was Catholic Mass offered by London Catholic Worker an unreconstructed socialist expression. This throw back to the politics and fashions of the last Seventies when encountered in the midst of Yummy Mummy liberalism of Greenbelt is quiet a tonic perhaps teaching us that things should be rough around the edges. After giving the chalices to the Eucharistic Ministers Fr Martin noticed a lack of Purificators and had to search in a brightly coloured satual from which he eventually retrieved some crumpled cloths which after inspecting for stains were felt suitable - and I thought back to Blesséd and knew if there had to be a choice it was the London Catholic Worker that I would choose.
Next I found my way to a talk by Keith Skene who was speaking about "tribalism versus diversity" - he was an engaging speak and great example of the richness that we gain when people break out of their academic silo and speak across disciplines (well expect when their name is Dawkins!). Using his background in biology he illuminated a key discrepancy in the Darwinian theory of evolution - that while Darwin states that competition drives evolution research now shows that it is those times when competition drops (eg mass extinctions) when evolution going into over drive. Having shown in biology competition does not occupy the role of positive driver usually credited it he asked he same question of human society and almost left it hanging in the air - avoiding pushing the metaphor to breaking point.
I then took up the role of groupie and went to hear Luke Bretherton who was one of the co-leader of the MA I took at Kings a few years ago and was pleased to find several of my fellow students had also wound there way to the master's feet. It was amazing to see him in jeans and t-shirt rather than the terrible cord suits that accompanied him to our classes and yet the energy was just as intense - carrying you along even when you have lost the plot of the talk struggling to keep up with the vast historical sweep he deploys to explain the present moment.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Greenbelt 2011 - Blesséd - Show of Hands - Outerspace - Jesus Arms
I have decided to share some thoughts about some of the stuff that I did at Greenbelt as being a good post-modernist I think all of life can be treated as "a text" and therefore can be read and so if I "read" it then it should feature in this blog...
First up was Blesséd an alt worship / fresh expression group described in the programme as "outrageously incarnational, rabidly Anglocatholic and wildly inclusive" who were offering Eucharist@home in the Big Top. I find Blesséd a fascinating group as I strongly believe that a highly sacramental approach should work as a fresh expression and yet on the basis of this service I have serious doubts (to a lesser extent this is also true of their offering at last years Greenbelt).
The geography of the space clearly didn't do them any favours - the altar was up on the stage and behind a very solid crowd control barrier (think Laudian altar rails writ large) - but they didn't do themselves many favours either - as while the acolytes, crucifer, and thurifier came down into the main space for the entry procession the dozen or so Priests who were to concelebrate the mass didn't. I can see no practical reason for this abnormal deviation from processional etiquette.
Another issue I found problematic was while there were some beautiful words spoken about brokenness and the gathering of the broken around the altar I struggled to connect the highly choreographed presentation with the pain and confusion we were being told was so central. This is partly the decontextualising of action that occurs when worship is taken to festival and offered as a company of strangers rather than as an outpouring of community life. Linked to this was one thing I found especially puzzling, which they did last year and again this year, is have sections of the liturgy prerecorded. Some of it was, or at least had been made to sound like, that of a child but most of it was Fr Simon Ruddel the principle celebrant. I don't know what they thought this brought, but exchanging a the voice of a real person stood in the room for the disembodied prerecording of them certainly didn't help foster a feeling of connectedness.
As a final point of Blesséd, we were given pots of bubbles as we arrived and asked to blow them during the confession - the interpretation of this was not completely clear - were we to see that as the words of confession were spoken and we expelled air from our lungs into the bubbles so we also expelled our sinfulness? But then the Big Tent slowly filling with beautiful bubbles was metaphorically filling with sin and that just doesn't seem to be the right metaphor at all.
After Blesséd I when over to see Show of Hands and really enjoyed their upbeat folky sound with just a little bit of politics sprinkled in.
Outerspace a group that comes together to provide stuff at Greenbelt about being a Gay Christian and the first session this year was about finding a Spiritual home - it took the form of a panel discussion with four of the members of the group sharing their personal experience of Church and how being gay had changed their relationship with it. For 3 of the 4 this involved them going on a journey to a different type of Church or beyond the boundaries of Church, for the other one it seemed while he had stayed put his home Church had been on a journey (with the metaphors of death and resurrection coming to mind). It is always a privilege to hear people speak so openly on what are personal even intimate aspects of their lives. One thing that was interesting was that all 4 (two non-alined Evangelicals and two Roman Catholics) had had fairly intense experiences of Christianity within the home as well as at Church growing up - all mentioned "family prayers" for example. So while I grow up in a Vicarage it was one in which the very idea of "family prayers" was treated with a mix of suspicion and ridicule, where we never said grace, and Morning Worship on Radio 4 was the only thing switched off more quickly than the Archers. Maybe this is the natural effect of having the Church next door - any praying that needed doing could be done quite easily there. I think this isn't a question of right or wrong but understanding the seedbed of your faith tells you a lot about how to make it grow.
I think I should of course mention that the text most heavily read during Greenbelt was the Jesus Arms where not only do I love the beer but all the beautiful people with whom I talked such profound rubbish :)
First up was Blesséd an alt worship / fresh expression group described in the programme as "outrageously incarnational, rabidly Anglocatholic and wildly inclusive" who were offering Eucharist@home in the Big Top. I find Blesséd a fascinating group as I strongly believe that a highly sacramental approach should work as a fresh expression and yet on the basis of this service I have serious doubts (to a lesser extent this is also true of their offering at last years Greenbelt).
The geography of the space clearly didn't do them any favours - the altar was up on the stage and behind a very solid crowd control barrier (think Laudian altar rails writ large) - but they didn't do themselves many favours either - as while the acolytes, crucifer, and thurifier came down into the main space for the entry procession the dozen or so Priests who were to concelebrate the mass didn't. I can see no practical reason for this abnormal deviation from processional etiquette.
Another issue I found problematic was while there were some beautiful words spoken about brokenness and the gathering of the broken around the altar I struggled to connect the highly choreographed presentation with the pain and confusion we were being told was so central. This is partly the decontextualising of action that occurs when worship is taken to festival and offered as a company of strangers rather than as an outpouring of community life. Linked to this was one thing I found especially puzzling, which they did last year and again this year, is have sections of the liturgy prerecorded. Some of it was, or at least had been made to sound like, that of a child but most of it was Fr Simon Ruddel the principle celebrant. I don't know what they thought this brought, but exchanging a the voice of a real person stood in the room for the disembodied prerecording of them certainly didn't help foster a feeling of connectedness.
As a final point of Blesséd, we were given pots of bubbles as we arrived and asked to blow them during the confession - the interpretation of this was not completely clear - were we to see that as the words of confession were spoken and we expelled air from our lungs into the bubbles so we also expelled our sinfulness? But then the Big Tent slowly filling with beautiful bubbles was metaphorically filling with sin and that just doesn't seem to be the right metaphor at all.
After Blesséd I when over to see Show of Hands and really enjoyed their upbeat folky sound with just a little bit of politics sprinkled in.
Outerspace a group that comes together to provide stuff at Greenbelt about being a Gay Christian and the first session this year was about finding a Spiritual home - it took the form of a panel discussion with four of the members of the group sharing their personal experience of Church and how being gay had changed their relationship with it. For 3 of the 4 this involved them going on a journey to a different type of Church or beyond the boundaries of Church, for the other one it seemed while he had stayed put his home Church had been on a journey (with the metaphors of death and resurrection coming to mind). It is always a privilege to hear people speak so openly on what are personal even intimate aspects of their lives. One thing that was interesting was that all 4 (two non-alined Evangelicals and two Roman Catholics) had had fairly intense experiences of Christianity within the home as well as at Church growing up - all mentioned "family prayers" for example. So while I grow up in a Vicarage it was one in which the very idea of "family prayers" was treated with a mix of suspicion and ridicule, where we never said grace, and Morning Worship on Radio 4 was the only thing switched off more quickly than the Archers. Maybe this is the natural effect of having the Church next door - any praying that needed doing could be done quite easily there. I think this isn't a question of right or wrong but understanding the seedbed of your faith tells you a lot about how to make it grow.
I think I should of course mention that the text most heavily read during Greenbelt was the Jesus Arms where not only do I love the beer but all the beautiful people with whom I talked such profound rubbish :)
Thursday, 25 August 2011
the church as as life-giver and life destroyer by Nicholas Mosley
This extract is this week's Literary Companion to the Lectionary and it really spoke to me - I hope you find it thought provoking too.
The rules in one sense are that which have been found to give framework, reference, order; that without which there can be no freedom because there could be nothing to be free within or free from, there could be no movement in a vacuum. But in another sense they are that which brings petrifaction and death. In Christian terms it is the church, the institution, that perpetuates (is the manifestation of) the rules - both as life-giver and life destroyer. In a sense the church is opposed to everything a free man stands for: it is that which Christ fought and which fought Christ: the denier of truth, the torturer of the honest, the servant of mammon. All this is too much felt now to go on about it: the concern of the church for power, respectability, vanity, money - its obsession with sexual morality and disregard for any other - all this, it is obvious to everyone except Christians, is just what stops other people being Christians and will go on doing so. But still, opposed to this, there is preserved in the framework of the church (how else could it be preserved?) The truth of the story, the history, the art, the secret. The church is that within which the possibilities of the freedom are held: through which is transmitted, beautifully, this experience. (How else could it be preserved except in something so paradoxical?) Within the rigid and self-seeking church have been the things that have given the chance to alter everyone.
The rules in one sense are that which have been found to give framework, reference, order; that without which there can be no freedom because there could be nothing to be free within or free from, there could be no movement in a vacuum. But in another sense they are that which brings petrifaction and death. In Christian terms it is the church, the institution, that perpetuates (is the manifestation of) the rules - both as life-giver and life destroyer. In a sense the church is opposed to everything a free man stands for: it is that which Christ fought and which fought Christ: the denier of truth, the torturer of the honest, the servant of mammon. All this is too much felt now to go on about it: the concern of the church for power, respectability, vanity, money - its obsession with sexual morality and disregard for any other - all this, it is obvious to everyone except Christians, is just what stops other people being Christians and will go on doing so. But still, opposed to this, there is preserved in the framework of the church (how else could it be preserved?) The truth of the story, the history, the art, the secret. The church is that within which the possibilities of the freedom are held: through which is transmitted, beautifully, this experience. (How else could it be preserved except in something so paradoxical?) Within the rigid and self-seeking church have been the things that have given the chance to alter everyone.
Saturday, 13 August 2011
The Woman at the window - Tweleve Stories by Emyr Humphreys
The Woman at the Window: click to buy on Amazon
This is a strong collection of short stories by a confident and accomplished writer. It is perhaps unsurprising for a collection published in honour of the writer's ninetieth birthday that the theme is often reflective - it is peopled by those looking back on lives with a mix of fond recall and regret - while there is some darkness it is far from doom laden.
To quote the last paragraph of the final story which sums up the mood of the whole:
"History made me, but I'm no legend. All I can do is accept the joke and carry on protesting. Whether or not is means anything, without having any effect. I shall never know, unless I find out after I stop breathing. But at least it's my life. It was given to me. I have no other."
These stories are little gems, tightly written and while covering only a dozen pages or so crafted as complete narratives. There is an exceptional realism to the characters, with members of the older generation taking centre stage in most stories - not relegated to the 2-dimensional window dressing that is the case is so much fiction.
This is a strong collection of short stories by a confident and accomplished writer. It is perhaps unsurprising for a collection published in honour of the writer's ninetieth birthday that the theme is often reflective - it is peopled by those looking back on lives with a mix of fond recall and regret - while there is some darkness it is far from doom laden.
To quote the last paragraph of the final story which sums up the mood of the whole:
"History made me, but I'm no legend. All I can do is accept the joke and carry on protesting. Whether or not is means anything, without having any effect. I shall never know, unless I find out after I stop breathing. But at least it's my life. It was given to me. I have no other."
These stories are little gems, tightly written and while covering only a dozen pages or so crafted as complete narratives. There is an exceptional realism to the characters, with members of the older generation taking centre stage in most stories - not relegated to the 2-dimensional window dressing that is the case is so much fiction.
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