Tuesday, July 08, 2008

baptist baptisms

Sunday including two of our younger people being baptised. Wonderful to be part of. I try and encourage individual baptisms, allowing each person to make it their own, and so it proved on Sunday.

The first was outdoors. Slightly cold, with snow on the hills. But with a fire on the beach and friends gathered around, it was a very spiritual moment.

The second was at our evening service, and took the name “Soak” to a whole new level. The Soak environmental team had, as usual, done a fabulous job and with candles lit up all the stairs, it was, again a very spiritual moment.

Posted by steve at 09:41 AM

Friday, June 13, 2008

soak and space

soak400.jpg

We had an evaluation and planning meeting of our Soak service last nite. Soak is quite unlike any alternative worship thing I have been part of. It’s got stations AND sung worship. It’s in the main church that is beautifully lit with candles and draped with fabric. Which works stunningly well in creating a very rich space. We try to avoid theme-based stations, instead offering regular communion, confession and journalling stations, which lessens the intense creativity usually demanded by alternative worship.

Soak happens monthly on the first Sunday of the month. It starts with sung worship for about 30 minutes. It then offers a lectio divino Bible reading for about 15 minutes. The various stations are then introduced and people are invited to leave when they want to. A benediction is taped to the exit doors.

What this means is that Soak is what I, for lack of a better word, am calling an adult space. So much church spoon feeds you. Every minute is programmed and full. You are not required to do much. In contrast, at Soak, if you lack an inner world and don’t want to work that inner world, you get bored pretty quick.

Here are some of the unexpected learnings:
– some (not all) of our teenage boys love it
– people stay so long, regularly over 2 hours
– it’s genuinely redemptive with 2 people asking about baptism
– the Bible has been liberated, allowed to become a springboard for prayer rather than something to analytically dissect.

Posted by steve at 10:04 AM

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

smash communion

Theme: colliding worlds

Call to worship: People were invited to write their names on coloured flowers, as a way of naming themselves as present in this act of worship.

Psalm of lament: on each table were placed dinner plates, colliding worlds (poor:rich or east:west or young:old) were written. People stood, read out their words, and smashed the plate. Yep. Smashed it. Some found this very therapeutic!

Response: The fragments were laid on a cross. People were invited to also place their flowers on the cross. It became a nice mix of colour and collision.

Benediction: The Message translation of Colossians 1:18-20 was read, followed by these words.

When I was in Gisborne over the summer
I collected lots of sea glass off the beach.

I reflected on Colossians 1
where it says that God will take
all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe
and fit them together in vibrant harmonies.

Perhaps God will fit them together
in something new and mosaical
rather than simply using superglue
to stick all back together as it was.

And the invitation was given, to go into God’s world and participate in mosaics.

One person was so moved, they took home all the broken pieces, dreaming of how they could create their own mosiac.

Posted by steve at 11:51 AM

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

is singing rational?

“whenever we speak or sing, we switch into the side of our brain thatÂ’s largely rational and analytical, so if the worship / sacred space is taking us into a space beyond ourselves, the singing will often bring us back” Fascinating comment by Cheryl, whose blog regularly pushes my creativity.

But I’m not sure I agree. I think it depends on what words we say. And I think it depends on how the human voice is invited to participate. I think of poetry; words but neither rational nor analytical. I think of the naked human voice and the way it calls to something mysterious. I think of the raw beats of dub, and the way they move my guts.

A few years ago I asked a visual artist if I could include some spoken words, to be said over the top of their artwork. In their reply, they commented “Steve, you are using words to open things up, not close them down.” It suggests that words need not be analytical.

One of Sinead O’Connor’s CD’s has a fascinating spoken word rant, extolling the power of the human voice, linking it with God’s creative endeavours. It suggests that words and sung words need not be analytical.

It is an issue that I am really wrestling with. I am concerned about the individualism of much church practice and I suspect that the reason churches create consumers is because they offer consumer practices. I personally struggle with sung worship, but I have rationalised it (irony noted), because I suspect it preforms a non-rational element in worship. Equally, I struggle with the individualism of much station based alternative worship and again, sung worship does invite a corporate way of being. Equally, I object to singing a song which dictates how I should feel and respond to God (in contrast to songs which are about God and who God is).

We are in a major experimentation phase with our morning service. Being Pentecost, the time when the Spirit disturbs the church, we have invited some of our visual artists to disturb the auditorium.

We have curtained off the front with floor to ceiling cloth, which has been backlit (in red, the colour of Pentecost). We have moved the preaching place into the middle of the space and brought in sofas to create a more surround sound experience. We have hung 2 Pentecost art installations. And have worked up 3 video screens, enabling us to run video loops.

And we have argued. And we have taken the criticism. Is this corporate church? Will it distract? Is this a mess? Why are we doing this?

My intuition says we need layers. We need words that are both mysterious and rational, we need music and singing used in ways that are analytical and emotional, we need ways to be alone and together, we need both our head and our hearts to sit with art and colour and symbol.

Thanks Cheryl for keeping me thinking (for your gift of words that help me form words :))

Posted by steve at 09:59 AM

Saturday, March 29, 2008

evaluation multi-media in easter worship

Email from Jeremy Williams (UK Programme Development, SGM Lifewords): I’ve just been writing up a debrief on our Easter project, and I came across the mention of the films on your blog. Thanks for the link, and for the resulting traffic!

I’m going to be writing a short news item for our magazine too, and it would be great to include a quote from someone who has used the films on the ground. Can you tell me a bit about how you used the animations, and how they were received?

My response: Hi Jeremy,

We used 4 of them in 3 services:
Palm Sunday we used day 1 and day 3. Day 3 (breaking of Alabaster jar) was used to introduce the offering and gave a lovely texture and nuance. Day 1 was used to tell the Palm Sunday narrative by way of introduction.

Easter Friday we used day 6, at the end of the reading of John 18-19. It was a powerful way to underline the death of Jesus, helping hold the liturgical space that is needed as the death is pondered from multiple perspectives.

Easter Sunday we used Day 8, again by way of introduction early in the service and as a way of telling the narrative.

I used them because they gave visuals to Scripture. I liked the use of text+symbol+music+aural reading. It allowed Scripture to be multi-valent. One of our art students commented on the art techniques, she is using similar in her study, so there was a particular resonnace for her.

Good work and kudos to whoever was the creative catalyst and project manager.

Posted by steve at 10:42 AM

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

so who is the Bible for?

As I continue to probe the place of the Bible in church today, I have found myself asking who is the Bible for? Is it for individuals or for the church?

Is the Bible for individuals? And therefore the way we use it reinforces this. We encourage personal devotion and applaud a sermon that applies the minds of the individual with thoughts and truths.

Is the Bible for the church? And therefore the way we use it reinforces this. We preach a sermon that applies to the church. We encourage devotions that remind us we are reading within a wider communion. And we read the Bible together in ways that invite the community to engage the text as a community, through practices like communal lectio divino, Dwelling in the Word, community discernment, storytelling, takeaway spirituality.

Or is it for someone/thing else? Am I making a false dichotomy? How much does the culture we grow up in shape our answers?

Posted by steve at 01:55 PM

Monday, February 11, 2008

offering practices

One of the good gifts that Jason King, one of our pastoral team, gave to us last year was a re-shaping of our offering practices.

As we designed Grow, our new evening congregation, Jason suggested that when it comes to the offering, we give everyone a piece of paper and ask them to write down what they are offering God in the week ahead. (This works really well at Grow, because the service meets around tables. So it’s easy to have pieces of paper and pens on each table, along with muffins and a range of other ways to participate.) Practically, this helps everyone to contribute, and avoid the embarrassment of only a few giving in a smaller congregation. Theologically, it reminds us that the offering is indeed about all of our lives, and not just our finances.

Personally, this simple change has radically transformed my sense of worship. As a person, I use automatic payments, so the offering bag has less connection. As a pastor, I attend three (of our five) congregations and even if I put cash in, it raises questions about which service I would do that at.

So the simple invitation to write down what I am offering, has allowed me to re-engage with the offering and to consider a meaningful contribution. I’ve written things like helping a community family move, work a long week for the church, enjoy a great day off. A very simple thing that has helped me connect my faith with my faith.

(Jason was with us as a Community Development Pastor for a three year period. This ended this month, and, in God’s goodness to Jason, he was called to North Avon Baptist. Thanks Jason for the gift of the offering idea and God bless you as you start your ministry this week).

Posted by steve at 05:06 PM

Sunday, December 23, 2007

updated (with a womens voice): moving four advent candles

I have just reworked our use of the Advent candles, to try and capture the movement and journey that is inherent in the Old Testament narratives. As a church, we have just finished a series on the Minor prophets, so it also serves to tie that into our Christmas preparation. And to involve the children.

I quite like it, and the way it connects narrative, Bible, movement and symbol. You?

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Posted by steve at 04:06 PM

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

advent in 2007: updated

It’s Advent, four weeks when the church starts to prepare for the Christ. It’s probably my favourite season of the church year. This year our preparation as a church will include;

a) giving everyone a wee glass bead, one per week, with the words “hope”, “joy”, “peace”, “love” glued onto their base. Beautiful enough to hold and tend, small enough to carry in one’s pocket.

b) digging out the advent journals again (8 journals, each journal is numbered and different and released into the church community for the first week of Advent. When you get a journal, you have 3 days to write in it what preparing for Christmas means to you, and can then pass it on to anyone you like. If you have them on Sunday, you’re invited to bring them along to be read in community).

c) using these short Advent videos.

d) offering a Blue Christmas worship experience, Wednesday, December 18, 7:30 pm, in the church foyer, for those who need to explore life’s blues in the presence of a babe about to become a refugee.

e) using this on-line Advent calendar at family meal times. (Hat tip to Olive Drane aka Clown Barni.

Posted by steve at 09:22 PM

Sunday, June 03, 2007

a workers communion

workercommunion.jpg

As we move to communion, you will notice that it is being served on 3 working communion tables: a kitchen sink, a work bench and an office desk.

And so this table is not a Baptist table.
It’s a workers table. It’s for anyone who wants to remember.

So come Holy Spirit,
Help us remember that God is a worker,
Help us remember that Jesus was a carpenter,
Help us remember that when the bread was broken,
When Jesus said “This is my body, Take, eat, do this in memory of me, This cup means a new covenant in my blood, whenever you drink it, all of you”

Help us to remember that this meal of memory, this first communion, did not happen on a special table with a white lacey tablecloth.

But it happened on a kitchen table in an everyday house,

So come let’s eat and drink, in memory of God the worker, at work in our lives, and at our everyday worktables.

Posted by steve at 02:37 PM

Saturday, June 02, 2007

trinity sunday worship

Christians worship God as Trinity. It’s not an easy concept to ground. This has been made in preparation for our Sunday worship:

trinityworship.jpg

3 different Trinity art images;
accompanied by a brief explanation;
and a black band running continuously around the bottom.

Printed on a sheet of A4, on Sunday we will give them out and invite people to reflect on which one of the three images most connects them with the Trinity.

This will take some time, so we will add in some layers; including the images in colour rotating on PPT and music in the background (an upbeat version of Holy, Holy, Holy from Eucharist CD). Plus we will hand around biscuits – a cracker, a piece of cheese and a gerkin. (Idea sourced from our good friends, Tony and Jan). So if people have trouble getting your head around the Trinity, or interpreting the art images, well they can always just taste the trio, for 3 distinct, but together as one, is better than three alone.

Finally, the A4 sheet has a little tab at the end. So it can serve as a takehome – sellotaped together and can sit on a mantelpiece or desk top for the next few weeks, helping people continue to reflect on the Trinity.

Posted by steve at 02:32 PM

Thursday, April 26, 2007

so why can’t those notices be worship huh?

I wrote the following email to some our ministry team on Tuesday. The background is that Sunday morning’s service was needing to include a baby dedication, a report back on a short term mission trip, a (ideally monthly) local mission focus, and a (ideally monthly) prayer for workers in their workplace – alongside the notices and offering. So we were trying to integrate all these together. I went home, thinking about worship, and wrote the following:

hi team,

Still thinking about all the negotiations today about bits in the services. Here are some reflections
1 – It’s a recurring theme over the last month.
2- It’s a sign of health that we have babies to dedicate, mission trips to report, ministries to promote.
3 – A church service should never be one long infomercial, a but “wait, there’s more …..”
4 – At the same time, it should be a time for the community of God to hear the stories and celebrate God among us during the week. This is worship not through song, but through the events of our everyday lives as an affirmation of God in all of our life.

So ….
what about if we worked at making more obvious that all the bits are in fact worship. They are not bits to be fitted in around songs, but are a healthy, vital part of our life that should get us going “praise God” (thanks) and “please God” (intercession).

So ….
what about we coin a regular part of Sunday. we call it say “community life.” we expect it to take say 15 minutes each service. what about we create a clear opening (set prayer?, set visuals) and a clear closing (pastoral prayer? and Lords Prayer) and in between, each week, we put the bits — the notices/offering/storytelling/red seat/etc etc.

what about if had an overall “leader” each week who were responsible to open and close and arrange the bits. they sit on the couch and interview people and pray. they ensure a mix of interview/video/ etc, so that it is not all talking heads. they are not the worship leader, and thus allow more participation and a different gift mix to be at work. the clear opening and closing allow the song worship leader to more smoothly integrate and link.

obviously it won’t happen this sunday, but could this make the “bits” more themed, more creative, more integrated into our worship.

any thoughts?

Posted by steve at 12:06 PM

Sunday, April 08, 2007

he is risen indeed

palmsunday300.jpg It’s Easter Sunday and this morning we sat in the Easter Garden, on sofas, and among the New Zealand native trees. Sparking grape juice in long stemmed wine glasses were passed around and people were invited to share the stories of life. It was very cool to sip the sparkling and listen to story after story, told among the people of God. We proposed toasts:
: to invited neighbours moved to tears by the Easter Journey,
: to fathers who play with their children,
: to the differently able we work with who are being re-integrated into the community
: to cleaning up garages and realising that
: it is Jesus who makes it possible to start again, and again, and again.

Over a 1,000 people walked the Easter Journey. Photos to follow.

Posted by steve at 01:42 PM

Sunday, April 01, 2007

what lurks in Jesus wallet

practice7forblog.jpg

This is the 7th, and last, of our Practising our faith series. (The 7 week series, with accompanying takehome resource and small group study guides, has worked really well). The Biblical text is Jesus entry to Jerusalem. The art image wonders what Jesus would have carried in his wallet? The practice is the invitation to empty one’s wallet and consider what the contents reveal about one’s priorities, relationships and values.

In response the symbols – chalk (black/white); coins; rock; nails; plumbline; flower; bulb – I wrote the following meditation (concept inspired from the Grace Lent blog):

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Posted by steve at 06:37 PM