benedson: Art

Virtual Choir

Choirs are on the up. I know a number of people who have joined community choirs as a way of getting to know people and forming a sense of community and belonging. Anyway I came across virtual choir this morning:

185 People across 12 countries all singing along at home to their webcam.

Community building or virtual community at the expense of real community?

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

23 Sep 2010 12:12:27 | Art, Culture, Emerging Church

A nation a day

A Nation A Day is a project by Max Hamilton, a London based photographer, to photograph a football fan a day that is supporting each country in the World Cup. He has his last chance for an England fan tomorrow...

I love it!

22 Jun 2010 14:46:19 | Art, Photos

The Silent Pilgrimage: Greenbelt 2010

The Silent Pilgrimage: A meditative journey through the physical space of the festival.

The temporary architecture of the Greenbelt site shapes our festival. Do we view the site merely functionally or through it can we encounter the Divine? The Silent Pilgrimage is a site-specific sound installation that takes the participant on a reflective journey around the festival site. Moments of reflection, celebration and blessing held within the common framework of the site around us all.

Away from the festival the physical environment that we inhabit shapes our being. Whether the city or hamlet, the countryside or the town the presence of God is within them all. The spiritual is physical; the physical is spiritual. Do we view the environment that we inhabit functionally or is it an icon into the Divine. The Silent Pilgrimage opens these questions exploring sideways encounters through the physical.

We have commissioned five groups to write the meditations: Frunt, Molten Meditation, Beyond, Spirit Walk and Gloppy Music. The meditations, of both words and music, will provide a unique soundscape for the site this year, reflecting on both the site location and also on a particular stage of the silent journey.

Don't forget to book your tickets for Greenbelt

21 Jun 2010 09:03:00 | Art, Emerging Church, Spirituality, Worship

The Ubiquitous Screen

Orwell warned us of the power of the screen - albeit a two way one - but everywhere that I now look I see a screen. A TV screen, a computer screen, a projected screen, an ipad screen, the screen that focuses our personal attention. Many churches have embraced the screen in worship. Liturgical words are now projected, songs projected, biblical texts projected and whilst I do this myself I also have some questions regarding what it does to our shared corporate worship.

Firstly, it takes the text out of its original context and reframes it in a new one. The screen becomes the context. For example I can project three verses of scripture onto a screen in a service, people will see the three verses but not the context that it was taken from. The person leading has the potential to manipulate the text as it is not placed in its wider original context. The screen becomes the context and in culture more widely it seems that we have the ability to discern the context that the screen is setting - i.e is this a film, a documentary, is it the BBC is it Sky. In a church setting I'm not quite sure that we have discerned the genre of the screen.

Secondly, the screen is used for entertainment and whilst I think that church should be enjoyable, it should not be for entertainment. When I sit down and watch the TV at home, I have the mentality that says 'entertain me' - I wonder whether people enter our churches look at the screen and think 'entertain me'. Church and worship becomes part of the entertainment culture that we are part of rather than offering an alternative

Thirdly, how does the screen affect our corporate point of focus. When a group of people reads from a book it is a different experience to reading off a screen. In many ways a positive one as people are no longer mumbling into books but are looking up at the people around them - but a physical element is lost as the hands are not used. They are either free to be used or redundant with no use. I'm convinced that posture is important in worship, for centuries the book has dictated our posture, that has now been removed and I'm not convinced that we have rethought our posture.

Anyway, we've just bought a new telly for the World Cup! Ours was turning
everything yellow and so I would have thought England were Brazil...until they passed the ball to Heskey.

7 Jun 2010 08:20:24 | Art, Culture, Mission, Worship

Images of Ascension

A few years ago on ascension day Blind Light opened, I personally couldn't help but think that it was a piece focused on ascension. Members of the public could enter the cloud whilst outside on the skyline of london were figures seemingly waiting.

I love the imagery of ascension day, both elijahs and Jesus' ascension were marked with something symbolising the presence of God - either fire or clouds. Both take place in threshold places, one just over the jordan (outside of the 'promised' land) and the other on the mount of olives, just outside the city of Jerusalem. Mountains and bodies of water are often symbolic of liminal places; places where God's presence can be discerned.

I also like the connection between the disciple of Elijah and the disciples of Jesus. Elisha was unsure of his ability, he didn't want his master to leave, he was concerned that he would not be able to follow his master. The disciples of Jesus must have also felt like this - We don't want him to leave, we can't follow him, we're not gifted enough. But as with Elisha, God provides.

In many ways I wonder if the experience of ascension is the perpetual experience of disciples. Not sure what the future will hold, not sure whether we'll be able to follow on from that which came previously. However, my concern is that we no longer metaphorically position ourselves in threshold places, but rather chose the place of stability. We remain secure inside the land or city, without the instability of the threshold.