Saturday, December 10, 2005

christmas not for church

Christmas doesn’t belong in church. It didn’t start in a religious building. Its message was for all of humanity, not just Christians.

Today we (Side Door, Opawa, Peter and Joyce Majendie, with help from some other churches) opened the Christmas journey in the square in the heart of Christchurch city. It sits outside major hotels and alongside the Christchurch Cathedral. Tourists stroll by, preachers shout and street kids loiter.

journey.jpg

The Christmas journey is the brain child of Peter and Joyce Majendie and has been developing over the last 5 years. This year it consists of a landscaped path that guide people through 8 interactive art installations, housed inside 8 shipping containers, wrapped in material to look like the largest presents any kid could ever imagine getting.

It is wonderful to have Christmas outside the church and in the public domain. It is great to have the Christmas narrative, told through art and engaged with through interactive response. It runs 12 hours a day, 10 am to 10 pm, for the next 14 days.

Photos of last year’s Christmas Journey are here. An article by the Listener, a national secular magazine, is here.
Repackaging Jesus. Churches around the country are changing, diversifying and adopting marketing practices in order to attract new and particularly younger members … So, if you’re expecting what Rev Dr Steve Taylor at Opawa Baptist Church in Christchurch calls “a Mr Bean experience” – a mumbled sermon and badly sung ancient hymns, with people dozing off around you – think again. link.

Posted by steve at 06:03 PM

1 Comment

  1. I experienced the journey today as I was passing through town. It’s incredible and most definitely worth experiencing. The creativity is just amazing! It’s definitely cool being able to physically interact with such creativeness.

    Comment by Lani — December 12, 2005 @ 2:19 pm

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