benedson

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.


 

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.

Foundations for Mission

Back to blogging.  That 40 day thing took it out of me.

Foundations for mission is a study by CTBI into the language, theology and praxis of mission agencies in the UK.  It essentially looks at their websites and explores the language that they use with regard to mission and then from this exlplores whether the language that they use correlates with their theology of mission.

It's a great resource that encourages mission agencies to think about what their websites in particular, say and do not say about their theology of mission.

It's downloadable from here.  There are even powerpoints to go with it.

40x40x40: Day 33

there are moments
of perfect clarity
life is pulled back
into focus


where that which
once seem important
fades into insignificance

moments where i realize
both the gift
and fragility of life

paradoxical moments
where despair and hope
fuse together

40x40x40: Day 32

today i have needed to breathe

just a moment to stop
to be

too much juggling
too many plates being spun

yet in the midst of that
40 words to focus my spirit
40 words to remember
my innermost meaning

40x40x40: Day 24

in the innocent eyes of my children
i see a hope filled future

a future fuelled by naive optimism
rather than being enslaved to cyncial reality

a future that knows no limits
beyong the captured imagination
of a thirty something

 

40x40x40: Day 14

the momentum begins to carry me
one day rolls into another
as the middle draws near

the momentum of the routine
of the forced pause
of the moment to think

the momentum
has become a part
of my inmost being

40x40x40: Day 13

the creative spark
that birthed the initial excitement
has gone
all that remains is discipline
the discipline of completion

creativity and discipline
paradoxical bed-fellows
but when held in balance
sustain one another
and give purpose
to the routine of life

40x40x40: Day 12

is this new life premature?
a brief glimmer of the future
or a seasonal change here to stay?

I hope it's a glimmer.
the temporal life enlivens my being
yet the fear of what it could be
darkens my soul

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