Creative Covenant Conclusions...

Richard Twiss (above) of Wiconi International was one of the speakers at the recent Emergent Village Theological Conversation which evoked an incredible blog post from Julie Clawson. This paragraph jumped out at, giving me a gentle sense of joy with its resonance to my concerns for the church, particularly all the turmoil over the Anglican Covenant:

The speakers had led us to see how the Bible is used as a colonizing text and how the rituals and trapping of the Western church have colonized the minds of indigenous peoples. Their dream is to find ways to do distinctly indigenous theology and develop spiritual practices that are native to who they are. They pleaded with us to stop seeing Western theology, philosophy, academia, and liturgy as the norm that all others must aspire to or at least subjugate their spiritual language to. And above all to not just allow native peoples space to pursue those paths, but to join in with them valuing their voices just as much as we value Western voices.

Let's face it, The Anglican Covenant is simply an ecclesiastical straight-jacket, therefore I support and endorse the #nocovenant campaign.

It will be interesting to see what 'action' comes out of the Emergent Village Theological Conversation... At Greenbelt 2100 Richard Rohr said 'The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better'.

P

A secret chord...

Am tickled pink today... Wikio contacted me to say my blog had gone in to their music rankings at number 5! Plus they've given me the opportunity to publish a sneak peek before they release them:

1	Musicrooms.net
2	SoulCulture.co.uk
3	Alter The Press!
4	Lil Wayne HQ
5	St. Peter's View (BanksyBoy)
6	LondonJazz
7	Word Magazine blogs
8	Matrixsynth
9	No Rock And Roll Fun
10	Live4ever - The Brit Rock Daily
11	uncarved.org blog
12	Popjustice
13	PUT ME ON IT
14	Southern Hospitality
15	Slipped disc
16	Song, by Toad
17	We Are Pop Slags
18	On An Overgrown Path
19	Tom Service on classical music
20	The Chemistry is Dead

Music

Ranking recorded by Wikio

Hymns and Spiritual Songs...

One of the joys of being in the Blogosphere is making international virtual friends who lift your spirits with their thoughts and encouragement. Posting the video above was a direct result of reading this on the When Love Comes to Town blog, one that I have on my Blogroll and is clearly a fellow pilgrim on the 'Redeeming Culture' trail.

Over the last couple of days I have been wrestling with what to write about the version of 'In Christ Alone' that appeared as a just for fun 'cover song' on stellar musician Adam Young's Owl City Blog... so I am grateful for Mike Todd's excellent piece today, A Mild Rant on Sacredness, Owl City and The Jesus Station, which says so well what I wished I had thought of...

Cheers me dears!

PB

Fruits of Greed...

Colchester Mercury Theatre's stunning production of Steinbeck's classic 'Grapes of Wrath' could not be better timed as a counterfoil to today's spending review. I was completely blown away by this production, even having read the book. Of course, readers will know the story is dark and yet redemptive through the sacrifices of some of the key characters.

I confess I am not a regular theatre goer, however this sensitive and highly creative interpretation really hooked me in. In fact I remember failing to watch the movie version all the way through as it seemed to contradict the images my imagination had drawn in my mind's eye. The combination of the physical boundaries of the theatre and the gentle pace meant this play still allowed me to both keep intact those images and to add to them. In fact that conclusion made me realise why film versions of previously read books don't come up to the mark with their literal, photo realistic interpretations which tend to restrict our own imagination so much as we are, actually, watching someone else's imagination instead.

I cannot stress enough if you are in the area do make the effort to go, it is so fantastic in every respect. Brilliant acting, production and staging plus special mention of the musicians who doubled up as actors too. The music was totally live featuring a brilliant fiddle player, multi instrumentalist guitar / banjo / mandolin / slide guitar player, double bass and some occasional percussion. The style was quoted as Bluegrass yet also included a vibrant Hoe Down sequence and incredibly haunting and moving instrumentals.

The closing sequence was breathtaking - simple, redemptive, challenging - not a dry eye in the house! It's on until the 30th October, make the time!

P

So Human, so divine...

 

For the next couple of days the painstaking task of bringing the Chilean miners to the surface goes on... it is impossible not to be deeply moved by the sight of the rescue capsule 'Fenix' appearing out of the top of the metal encased shaft with its precious cargo on board.

How cool is it that the Chilean Navy torpedo experts went to work to design and build the capsules? How special is it to see rescue teams using lifelong manual skills working in conjunction with some basic Newtonian Mechanics restoring families and stimulating prayers of thanks and joy?

May the process continue in safety and reach the conclusion that everyone longs for.

Africa United lifts the World Cup

Felt really privileged to see a pre-preview version of this wonderful film at Greenbelt 2010. At the time I thought this film delivers everything that Slumdog Millionaire failed to and then discovered it was from the same stable... oooops! Truly moving and redemptive it epitomises how a 'feel good' film should be.

P