benedson

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'

The plank in Obama's eye

I'm getting a bit sick of the sanctimonious blame that Obama is placing on BP about the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The oil spill is an environment disaster and I don't want to downplay that, BP may have cut corners, they may have underestimated the extent of the spill but the US needs to acknowledge that it is by far the biggest consumer of oil and therefore it is in-part responsible for creating the demand that has led to deep water drilling. 

Driving huge cars, flying everywhere, producing packaging has environmental consequences in the medium and long term, drilling for oil feeds that demand - but when it goes wrong it has short term environmental consequences.  The choice that we make drive that need and rather than point the finger at someone else let us change our behaviour so that we are not responsible for the demand. 

In the Old Testament there are times when disaster brings about change in behaviour but I have the feeling that this disaster will not bring about a change in behaviour.  Rather than putting so much energy into the 'blame game' why doesn't Obama start a process when the people take collective responsibility for what has happened with the hope of bringing about a change in behaviour. Let's concentrate on the plank in our own eye before pointing at the speck in someone elses (even if the speck is a rather big one...).

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.


 

Malawi Gay Rights

I just caught the news and heard about the case in Malawi of a gay couple being given 14 years in prison for 'unnatural acts'.  I'm a ball of contradictions on this one - Firstly, I think that it's abhorrent that this case even went to court - all my liberal sensibilities are offended.  But...

Should I expect Malawi  to take the views of the liberal west on this?  Isn't this how we got into this mess in the first place - a colonial mindset that says 'we know best'.  It has the potential to disenfranchise and alienate.  There is a paternalism in our approach to Africa which I think needs addressing.

So what do I do?  Do I condemn the Malawian's as ignorant 'natives' that need educating by the west...Or do I accept the judgement, hoping that one day they become more tolerant, but in doing so allowing the human rights of millions of Gay Malawians to be violated?

 

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.

40x40x40: Day 20

the first half way always going to be hard
more in front than behind
but now i'm half way there

lent seems so short
i can see the light at the end
i'm going to make it
i sigh,
relieved

40x40x40: Day 11

11
days
in
and
the
self
examination
is
continuous
days
are
perpetual
time
stands
still
as
eternity
fractures
the
present
with
the
self
examination
the
transitory
realisation
that
i
am
fully
human
when
my
identity
is
surrendered
to
I
am

40 x40x40: Day 6

vanity, vanity, my blog is vanity.
what is gained from all my toil?
visitors come and visitors go,
all is vanity.

the quest for hits
the quest for links
the quest for a HT
vanity, vanity my blog is vanity.

ht - David Keen

40x40x40: Day 5

40 images:40 videos:40x40 words:40 days:day1

Solitude was Christ’s experience in the desert. I celebrate the city, yet daily I meet people where the city is a place of isolation and loneliness. In our celebration let us not forget the solitude and isolation of the city.