Away in a (bus shelter) manger..

After our local Christmas Market here on Mersea my son and I were 'walking' the crib back to the church when I thought I would quickly snap our local bus shelter with the manger inside... this links in with the bus stop ad that's running. Then today I read Ship of Fools co-editor Steve Goddard's tweet about the nativity cribs abandoned in London to draw attention to the plight of the 100,000 children that sleep rough each year. This is a campaign launched by the charity 'Railway Children' which champions the welfare of street children.

Encouraging yet deeply challenging stuff...

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In the air tonight... Advent 3

Let everything that hath breath Praise the Lord... yes, everything you hear is created by the human voice: bass, drums, percussion and the synthesiser effects! I love the combination of beatbox techniques, hip-hop, gospel and re-imagining creativity going on here. So appropriate for Advent ;-)

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What matters now...

Seth Godin is attempting to break all previous records by providing a new e-book to download for free on his Blog site and inviting everyone to virally market the message of its availability. I think this is a really interesting experiment in itself with the added bonus of receiving the excellent ebook.
Essentially the book is a collection of inspiring short thoughts and anecdotes from some high profile authors including Seth himself, Acumen Fund CEO Jaqueline Novogratz, business guru Tom Peters and Greenbelt Festival speaker Karen Armstrong.

Wonderful stuff!

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It doesn't have to always be this way...

This article on Jonny Baker's Blog caught my eye today... initially because I know Walthamstow well and had many happy years living there and my son Sam was born in Whipp's Cross round the corner.

Just when I was getting a bit despondent along comes news of a bit of 'proper' church which made changes to their regular routine enabling them to become missional where the community is. The word re-invent is often applied to church. My preference is to use the verb re-imagine and this scheme, by ordained C of E vicar Revd Tony Cant, currently at St. Lukes, is spot on. Jonny Baker takes up the story here:

...he has been looking for ways to get involved in the community rather than get the community involved in the church. one that came up was the start of a farmers market on sunday. the market was looking for a manager so tony took the role. so as a vicar he works at the farmers market every sunday instead of leading worship in the church building! it's relational stuff... then every market has a stall for a community project. tony as manager said that st lukes church would take it. every week they brew teas and coffees all day and give them away and chat with people and stall holders. so instead of being in church on sunday they are in the market place with the community.

The article goes on to highlight the typical age profile issues of many churches, it was strangely re-assuring that this applies to an urban area as well as our rural one here out in the sticks.

Check out the full post here: Church on the High Street

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Advent inspiration two...

I'm liking this idea! Creative stuff from St. Thomas the Apostle church, Gosport near the South Coast (and my birthplace)...

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Congregational musicianship...

A great way of disposing of worship groups/bands, just give everyone a Ukulele instead!

The very wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in full flow at this year's Proms. Suggestion inspired by the Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus 768: