mountain masala

belfast

we got up at 7 am and drove to Birmingham airport. The group has split in half for the next few days. Eight of us are travelling to Belfast and Manchester to visit Ikon and Sanctus. I was worried about overweight bags, but fortunately the weight for the group was averaged! the weather is warm and humid.

we're staying in apartments for 2 nights near the centre of Belfast, and I'm sharing the apartment with ray gorrmann from melbourne.  the room from the window is row upon row of two story terrace houses. at least the green hills in the background give a sense of something other than city. here's a dodgy fake panorama I made quickly...

we went out for lunch walking through the botanic gardens, past union theological college to a great little cafe called "common ground" run by one of the churches as an act of hospitality and justice. excellent food. we were then free to wander for a bit and I got lost on the way back to the apartment...

in the afternoon we met with pete rollins, founder of the Ikon community and heard some of his story, the genesis of the community, its 'philosophy' and some of what it does (see next post) then dinner at an Italian cafe and out to the pub with some of the Ikon folks. the pub was busy and hot and impossible to hear conversations (for me at least). for most of the evening there were only two ikon people and eight of us, making conversation even more difficult. some more ikon folk turned up later, and we chatted  at but, but our carload headed back a bit after 10 with sarah feeling crook.

this morning some folk headed to breakfast with one of the ikon folk while I wandered the city - visited St Anne's cathedral, the Writer's Circle, a photo gallery,  the Grand Opera House, tried to visit a multimedia gallery but it was closed, then down to the Markets. The City Hall had a photo display of a project called 1000 families - I ended up buying the book and getting it signed by the author, Uwe Ommer.

some clothes washing this afternoon.

in the evening we had dinner with pete rollins and another member of ikon and two americans who somehow got connected with us. a late night, good conversation, and red wines from several continents. i have to say too that proper stilton cheese is very close to heaven...I'll write about Ikon next post. tomorrow we fly to manchester to visit the sanctus community.

telford

From Stratford-on-Avon we've driven to Telford for a couple of days to visit Mark Berry and the SafeSpace community. We're staying a Madely House, a 16th century house turned into a hotel. Amazing building and fairly cheap. Apparently its haunted...

On the way we stopped at Ironbridge, the site of the first iron bridge in the world, built in the mid-1700s. This area was the production heart of the Industrial Revolution apparently (doh - it's near Birmingham...)

In the evening we had dinner with Mark Berry and heard some of his story. Mark has a background in youth work, among other things, He was asked to start a new faith community here in Telford, which is a newish, growing community - lots of younger families. Rather than starting a congregation as such, he is birthing a small missional community. The aim is not numerical growth, although that is not avoided, but rather building around the DNA of community, pilgrimage and mission.

Mark has made contact with the local football club to offer to help them achieve their mission, which is very community-oriented. He assists in a range of ways and spends his Saturdays there. Mark's wife conducts nature walks with a spiritual dimensions. These are'nt advertised, rather the hope is that people are invited by word of mouth.

The community is a rather mixed group of about a dozen, who meet weekly for a meal,communion,  conversation and to share their pilgrimage. Mark sees table hospitality as central to community. The community also take seriously spiritual practices. People have come to the community by various means and cover a wide age range. The group meet in the Berry's home, which is church-owned. Mark is paid by the church as a missional iniative.

This morning we went looking around in smaller groups, and my carload visited the ruins of Buildwas Abbey and Wenlock Priory. Both of these are quite remarkable ruins, giving a sense of size and scope to monastic and church life in Norman times. It's one thing to study church history, but to be here and see the ruins alongside the floor plans of the original buildings was quite a significant learning experience for me.

Then a look around Telford to get a sense of the city, before spending the evening with the SafeSpace community. The 14 of us outnumbered them 2 to 1, and it was rather cramped. They offered us wonderful hospitality and we spent the evening talking informally with various members of the community. Back at the hotel some of us debriefed for a while.

I wonder how much effort the church should put into supporting and transforming congregations (which largely tend to sink or swim regardless of the assistance they receive) and how much into new faith communities. To put it another way - the challenge to congregations is the demise of modernity and Christendom, and we are spectacularly unsuccessful in trying to solve that. We would be better to put energy into authentic responses/expressions for tomorrow, since it's always easier to start something new than to get an ocean liner to change course...

I am quite in favour of a proliferation of base ecclesial communities, with those communities having their own local flavour and style. I agree with those who predict that the church of the future will consist of a few large congregations, who will largely exist as their own 'denominations' (as is the case now...) and many smaller communities.

I am coming to the view that the church needs to invest MUCH more heavily in sponsoring new communities. Of course, there is a limit to how many people like Mark any denomination could sponsor - a small faith community' approach can't rely on full-time workers, it must rely largely on part-time or 'volunteer' leaders. The important things is that this is not about 'models' - there is already enough evidence of models. It is about philosophy and approach - the fostering of new faith communities by one or two missional leaders is highly relational and contextual (as distinct from the Seaford-type "church clone"). We need those kinds of people, not a range of 'models'.

How do we form the Mark Berry's of this world? I have no doubt that it is important that Mark comes from a youth work background, since that breeds (i) contextualisation skills, (ii) communication and relationship abilities, (iii) ability to engage with community and culture beyond the church, and (iv) willingness to takes risks and cross boundaries. I'm also clear that if the church had told Mark to get ordained first, he would not have agreed and he would not now be here.

Whether it is called "leadership" or something else, investing in people who will make a difference seems important to me.

I'm be interested to send our new Synod leadership 'curriculum' to Mark for comment. I'm fairly convinced that we are too heavily focused on "church leadership as we know it" and that a greater emphasis on field placements will reinforce that. At the same time, I can imagine that an apprenticeship approach with someone like Mark as coach/mentor could be a significant forming experience.

We kept talking last night about the possible domestication of new initiatives. That's only a problem if you have some to start with!!

stratford-on-avon

Tuesday morning we drove to Stratford-on-Avon for a rest day. In the afternoon I went to visit Shakespeare's birthplace and grave. Like York, this city has been preserved for historical and tourist reasons, it feels like an English place...! 

I decided on fairly short notice to sit in the queue for tickets to the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet in the Courtyard Theatre.

3 1/2 hours later, there was one ticket available so we gave it to Sarah, then right on the bell another 4 came up so all of us got in! And had brilliant seats.

The play starred David Tennant (Doctor Who) and Patrick Stewart (from Star Trek) as the Kings - and was FANTASTIC!! One of the major theatrical highlights of my life.

Some photos over at Flickr.

greenbelt #4

the last day at greenbelt was pretty low key - running out of energy.

I heard Pete Rollins talk about revolutionary movements, which was interesting. He was suggesting that such movements are always before their time. ie. before they are needed, but that by occurring they help to create the conditions which ensure their necessity. He also tried to warn against the 'emerging church' being domesticated by the institutional church, or rather, talked about how mainstream culture allows minority dissent as a way of legitimating the status quo. Not sure I totally agree with either point but good food for thought.

Several of us Aussies met at the Tiny Tea Tent with Nadia from "The House for All Sinners and Saints" in Denver to hear some more about her ministry and community. Really fascinating to meet someone who seems so 'counter-cultural' and has a 'high' view of ordained ministry and liturgy, and is serious about fairly orthodox Lutheran theology. a great conversation.

Walked around a number of tents and displays and saw the amazing "Hard Rain" installation - a photo display of global environmental and justice issues to the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain".

I went to part of the "Ambient Wonder" worship being run by people from Norwich and focussing on Julian of Norwich, but the room was a sweat box and I didn't stay (actually, wasn't feeling that well.)

Went on the listen to Jamie Catto of "1 Giant Leap" play solo - guitar and voice - and fell asleep! Clearly I am a bit Greenbelted out.

So I got the bus back to the university and had an early evening.

how to get everything in the bloody suitcase again?

greenbelt #3

Slept in a bit this morning, then walked downtown to buy soap and washing powder, only to find that my key wouldn't let me into the laundry. Cheltenham is the home of Holst, the composer who wrote "The Planets". I walked past his house and may visit tomorrow as they've kept it in period setting.

Spent the later part of the morning wandering around the Greenbelt site looking at displays, artwork, resources, etc. It rained overnight and the ground is getting very muddy (heck, that's what concert weekends are for...) Waited for a speaker for a while and then realised he's on tomorrow. I haven't seen any of the 'big names' here - Brian McLaren, Philip Yancey, Franky Schaeffer. I have spotted a couple of 'emerging church' gurus whom I recognise from their photos and have to pluck up the courage to go and speak to them...

Dropped into an installation by "the garden" at brighton (www.thegardenbrighton.co.uk) - focusing on the stories of our lives. Looped video on screens and TVs, glass cases of 'memorabilia', plus a live camera on-screen of people walking in the venue. (There was a performance piece and discussion about this in the venue tonight which I really wanted to see, but my energy didnt last the distance I'm afraid!)

I went with John Oldmeadow from NSW (we talked about the Ministry of Pastor in the queue...) to hear a piano recital of works by the French Catholic composer Messiaen performed by Stephen Robbings. He started with a Liszt piece based on Dante's Inferno and then 3 pieces by Messiaen bsed on the life of Christ. Wow! Brilliant! Amazing music, stunning performance, great sound.

The $10 folding chair that i bought is saving my back.... I bought it because it was a low chair, then found out it was a kids chair, but I havent broken it yet!

The whole of Greenbelt  stopped for communion at 3 pm - hosted at the main stage and video-linked to a second outdoor area where I was seated. We sat in groups of 12-15. The leading musicians played sitar and other Indian instruments and sang Christian songs in Hindi. The preacher was a Brazilian Lutheran woman minister from Geneva. The songs were from Taiwan, Indonesia and some traditional stuff. It rained lightly during the service (the Greenbelt theme is about the Sun/Son and so was the service...) The message was about the Son/Sun shining and rising about about us being/doing that too (although she said it well in terms of peace and justice. I applaud their efforts to make it all-age and inclusive in many ways.

The service ran overtime so the rest of the day's program was put out of schedule. Saw a bit of Beth Rowley at mainstage - great blues/soul/gospel, then up for a circuit of the resource tent where I got to say hi to jonny baker on the Proost stall. I stopped by the Anglican "call waiting" stall to find out how about their new initiative to recruit clergy, saw a LOT of 'gap year' programs so I'm back tomorrow to check those out.

then went to a talk on 'new monasticism' by mark berry from 'safespace' (whom we're visiting). I liked this but have a bunch of questions to ask Mark when we see him.

Saw part of the Matthew Herbert Big Band. This was crazy-good. Wonderful and bent big band music with Matthew sampling his band live and playing back the samples with keyboard over the top. The song called "The Daily Mail" had them all ripping up newspapers while they played. A very kooky and brilliant guy. Not enough of a crowd but simply stunning.

Dinner was a superb locally made beef and dark ale pie with mashed potato and gravy in a cardboard box..... I have to get the paella tomorrow.

I raced up to another worship by Soul Space on "Toasting Planet Earth". Several of these worships, including ours, have been in the "New Forms" (ie. of worship....) space, so I admit I was getting a bit tired of the space (which has been hot all weekend too). The "toasting" was cleverly about celebrating creation and also about global warming. Again a large group and the worship was mainly watching and listening with (wait for it) another grape to eat... I appreciated the sentiments, but... I want to do a lot more thinking about 'presentation' and 'participation', because clearly some of the "alt worship" presented here has been low on participation (like most church worship), yet I don't know how much of that is due to the constraints of time, budget, space, etc.....

Since I had to sit down I went to some of Linda Marlowe's performance of "Believe" - a dramatic monologue of four Old Testament women - traitor, widow, warrior, martyr. Her performances of Rahab and Bathsheba were set in 20th C wartime and were absolutely stunning. I really regret not being able to stay for the rest. Linda is a first-rate UK actress both on stage and screen (she played James Nesbitt's mother in Dr Jekyll...)

One of the things I am reflecting on is the nature of 'spectacle' in worship (and education and mission)....Tex Sample has tried to reclaim "spectacle" from the realm of being merely entertainment, so to speak, with mixed success in my view.  But there are some other dimensions, namely creativity, craft (expertise) and scale (scope of the work and its preparation) that are major issues for the church (I didnt mention budget).  When I lead worship at College (3 times a year), someone always says "but you couldn't do this every week"  (eg. sand, baked quail...). That's not the point... do you EVER do it? Has your church ever started rehearsing drama 3 months ahead, commissioning a sculptor a year ahead, working with a composer on a full-length choral piece. I could and will say more.... Do we plan to occasionally exercise excessive creativity, or invite in guest soloists, artists, musicians, etc? Have you annually transformed your whole worship space, with say, 200 palms for Palm Sunday, or whatever?

I also want to make a note here to think about light. The large majority of our churches were built to let in lots of light (as were galleries and museums). Both projection and electronic display art, analog and digital, require darkened spaces. This is not only reflective of art but also of our homes lives - TV. We know that data projectors need darkened rooms. But there are two other considerations - the first is about the connections between translucence and transcendence, the visual power of light and dark to convey life and death to us almost above all else, and secondly, the notion of escape/sleep/dream time as story time. More to say about these things.

greenbelt #2

Saturday started with another tent queue to hear Sara Miles and friend (priest?) from St Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco (Episcopalian I gather). Sara told the fascinating story of her coming to faith through receiving the eucharist at the 'open table' practiced by this church. We heard about the centrality of the table and its openness to this church's understanding of the ministry of Jesus. Then Sara spoke about her 'vision' as a new convert of feeding the hungry as an expression of eucharist, the challenge of convincing the church to try this, and what had emerged - excess produce bought at cost, food made available freely to any and all, the tables set around the communion table, 9 tons of food given away each week, 16 other churches participating. Quite extraordinary and I'm hoping to go to another session to hear more.

I turned up to the next session early so I sat in on the end of a worship by "Outerspace" titled "my mother had a brother". The service was for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their friends and families. Some great prayers and reflections, and a stunning video of African Christians talking of their experiences (apparently it was shown at the recent global meeting of Anglican bishops). But I chatted to a friend later and agreed that the tone seemed t be about resolving the hurt and injustice that GLBT people had received - rather heavy and unbalanced. Some people whom I know would not relate to that much at all.

A session with 4 long-term members of "Ikon", a rather radical community from Belfast (whom we're visiting). Pete Rollins, who is really the founder, will be in Adelaide next March. It was a Q&A about Ikon, who are very post modernist, deconstructionist, anti-religion and in many ways anti-church. They're a fascinating and important community, and unfortunately the panel structure didnt do them justice. I look forward to hearing more later. However the interesting themes are about making space for doubt and disbelief, gathering where 'christian' and atheist might both feel comfortable/uncomfortable, helping people move away from unhelpful, immature or outmoded beliefs, a community of non-members, and more.

Then some of us Aussies met prior to leading a worship session called "The Memory of Water". Cheryl Lawrie co-ordinated this and did most of the work. You can read about it here. Cheryl's writing on this was excellent as usual. The theme was about thirst, and the memory that perhaps there was grace in the past, and might be grace again. About 90 people came and participated in the stations. Sarah told the story from John 4, Cheryl used a bit of "Rabbit Proof Fence". I contributed the music from "Paris, Texas" by Ry Cooder. We made the sand deserts, had bowls of water, gave away sachets of salt.... (One of the tech guys asked me why we had crumpled pages of the Bible all over the floor - and I tried to explain to him that dryness of faith could be related to the Bible in a number of ways.... sigh... at least he asked I guess.) And I caught up with Steve Collins briefly.(sarah in pic....)

I wandered around, took photos, bought a couple of books - Pete Rollins' new book and "Divine Beauty" by John O'Donohue (whose book "Benedictus" I love). Back at mainstage I heard some of Julie Lee from Nashville (wonderful bluegrass) and later How Gelb and Giant Sand (not enough - he's fantastic... rain... a small crowd...).

Then one of the unexpected highlights of Greenbelt. I thought I'd wander over to the Beer Tent, the "Jesus Arms". Hearing singing in the distance, I assumed it was the Iona worship, but instead I arrived for the 7pm Beer and Hymns. Imagine 800+ people in a tent drinking beer and singing hymns at the top of their voices - and its pouring rain outside. This is clearly a Greenbelt tradition, and its brilliant. A young Australian guy came out afterwards and said "I finally get what hymn singing is about". And he was serious - not sitting in straight lines on hard seats, hymns sandwiched between elements of worship, but rousing sweaty, empassioned, joyful singing. It was just marvellous. Could it happen in Adelaide?

At night I went to the worship led by Moot titled "Perpetual Dawn". The focus was on faith moving from daylight to night to new dawn - that this cycle is ongoing, and that it's ok to be at different points on the journey. A few hundred people present. The worship was fairly static - a range of projected images, electronic music, a 'live' painting', live music, poetry, biblical reflection, and two participation activities (one using cards and pens, the other sharing and eating grapes. I'm finding the worship smorgasbord very interesting but not very engaging, as you're moving from event to event and 'drop in' for an hour or so. The prose reading and nylon string guitar felt a bit like a 70's coffee shop, and I wondered seriously whether for many of the people my age and older this was an opportunity for that kind of experience (not a derogatory comment, rather an observation that it's perhaps not part of their regular church life).

The other thing is that it's hard to get a sense of the life of the host community from the worship, and this is a community I've read about online and would love to get to know more. The worship aimed to recognise and even celebrate the moments of doubt and darkness in our lives as necessary to the journey of faith. One of the common themes of "alt worship" communities, or at least, some emerging churches, seems to be a clear alternative to a more 'conservative' or 'happy, clappy' expression of faith - namely one that acknowledges and embraces the difficulties of faith as not only real but also essential for authentic human existence and growth in faith.

(A side comment is that just as I have from time to time felt not in a mood to praise, here I have found myself not in the mood to be doubtful and 'on the edge' of faith - I'll have to ask how communities include those who feel OK about life and God and faith.) This is not simply a 'liberal' reaction, rather many of the UK emerging church people are post or ex-evangelical. In fact many would reject such labels and seek a more radical (dare I say 'ancient-future'... not a great label...) church that is some kind of 'third way'. (I'm describing this for readers for whom this is all rather new...)

I missed Jose Gonzalez at mainstage but saw some of Seth Lakeman and his band. Fantastic english folk. Great weather. Despite the rain, the days are warm and humid, with a fair bit of sun today. Nights are cold but bearable.

Today's menu was fresh fruit salad, thai chicken curry, a pork stottie (roast meat in fresh pitta-type bread with stuffing and apple sauce) and later a crepe with maple syrup - cooked on a huge flat griddle - very impressive and tasty. Tomorrow I'm up for the chicken and chorizo paella and maybe the gourmet pies..... sigh.... glad I'm doing lots of walking!

green belt #1

I've been at Greenbelt for the weekend and just discovered that my room at the uni has Internet access - so here are a few back posts....

more photos of mine here.

fantastic official greenbelt photos here. (damn I want a digital SLR!)

This is the Bank Holiday long weekend in England, and we're off to Greenbelt. This is a Christian Festival that has been running annually since 1981, and is attended by about 20,000 people. I'm here with a group of about 18 Australians from NSW, Vic and SA who are taking time afterwards to visit some interesting churches. (Apparently a new young band called U2 played at the inaugural festival... The headline act tonight is Michael Franti and Spearhead. Some fantastic music coming up.... Howe Gelb and Giant Sand, Jose Gonsalez, Beth Rowley etc....)

The venue is Cheltenham Racecourse, the city is 2 hours by train west of London. This is an extraordinary event by any measure. It's all-age, broadly ecumenical, and features live music, authors, theologians, worship experiences, arts workshops, art installations, craft, speakers, dance and drama (workshop and performance) and lots more.

Today was travel and settle in day. Most are staying in a huge tent city. My back and hip can no longer cope with sleeping on the ground (it's not age, it's posture and heredity...) so I'm one of a few in a university college.

This afternoon we waited for an hour outside a huge tent to hear Dave Tomlinson (author of "The Post-Evangelical") but weren't allowed in - no fire extinguishers. Waited an hour and a half to hear a panel talk about "emerging church" - Brian McLaren from Bushland, Karen Ward from COTA, Pete Rollins from ikon, Ian Mobsby from "moot", Cheryl Lawrie, and Nadia Bolz-Weber. Some good conversation and questions but too big a panel and to short a time. If there were common themes, they were about church being contextual, open/inclusive, avoiding 'global' solutions/answers/models, local mission, valuing uncertainty and doubt.....

In the evening I went to the "Transcendence" service led by the Visions Folk from York. 400+ people in a large space. The service was their attempt to show what they have just started doing in the Minster (York 'cathedral'). In some ways similar to the service I had attended in York - multiple projection screens, electronic music (some older hymns rejigged, taize chants). They 'recreated' the Minster with lots of photos and video of the building - quite stunning. The difference was robed worship leaders, a procession with cross and incense - a kind of 'high church' alt worship - and a very effective combination since liturgy is highly theatrical anyway. With the incense smoke and spotlights it looked very impressive. The theme was transfiguration and included 2 mini-sermons on video from one of the Rev Canon liturgist priest guy from York Minster (Jeremy .....)... and numerous reference to 'light'.

The service included time to visit 3 stations. I particularly liked the chance to take a glow-stick circle and choose one of many piece of papers which named prayer situations - the children thought it was wonderful. I really like the "high drama" sense of this event and would love to try it back home.

Then I raced down to hear the end of Michael Franti's set at main stage. Unfortunately I only caught the last 3 songs, but at least I heard him!

The weather has been a bit mixed - warm, cool, sunny, rain, wind - but overall pretty good. The site is full of food vans. Today I tried fish and chips and locally made sausages...  grease city...

looking for a band

I have one free night in Manchester, England in a couple of weeks - 1st September. I'm desperately looking for a band to see....

here's who I'm just going to miss.......

August
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) on the 28th

September
Gomez on the 4th
The Animals on the 7th
Stevie Wonder on the 9th
Stray Cats on the 11th
Sun Kil Moon on the 11th
Travis on the 28th

what can I say?????

the best I've found so far is this...

DRAGONFORCE (metal)  |
Manchester Academy 1 - 26th September
Technically proficient British metal act, Dragonforce, have been selling out arena's across the country despite never having a UK Top 40 album. They stand out from the pack with their relentlessly brutal attack of metal and melodies, with vocals reminiscent of a 1980's perm-metal act. Offering a nice middle ground between soft rock and death metal, this is swords and sorcery power metal at its best!

Is this as good as it gets?????? will I have to get a perm and leather jacket???

stay tuned!

I could go on... and list Nickelback (...), Robert Forster (!), The Moody Blues (!~!)

Emmylou Harris will be in Glasgow when I'm there though...

ancient and future

Today is a 'work' day - part retreat so to speak, part investigation. I've been trekking around London.

The 'retreat' part was visiting Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral, the 'study' part was going to the Tate Modern to look at art installations.

Andy Turner (who we had dinner with the other night) got me into the Abbey for free. What can I say.... Unbelievable architecture, art, and history. No one can take photos so I had to buy postcards and a book.

One aspect is the astonishing building - the soaring columns and arches, huge stained glass windows, stonework, etc, etc. I admit that having the building full tourists, the surroundings don't move me to prayer... perhaps they would if the place was more contemplative.

Edward the Confessor is said to have built the first Abbey. While the notion of ostentatious architecture giving glory to God doesn't do much for me (I wonder who suffered for this to be built...), the historical sense of the development of this place, its longevity, the lines and curves and detail, do contain a grandeur and timelessness that moves one out of the present. That, i suppose is both the blessing and curse of their intent - worship that takes us out of the everyday to the degree that we fail to engage with the everyday.

The second impression is of the link between church and monarchy - dozens of kings and queens buried here in grandeur, including Elizabeth 1, Richard 3, a few Henrys and Edwards and so on... Standing next to the place where 38 kings and queens were crowned, seeing the ancient chair on which they have been crowned since the 1200s - I realise how the church blesses the aspirations of the state in this country, and how the state in some way is meant to embody the reign of God on earth. I wonder whether the separation of government and monarchy is part of the reason that the church/state connection became so problematic. When monarchy (symbolic of nationhood) has little to do with governance (elected by the people), what does it mean to see "country" as somehow divinely blessed, given the

The third impression is of the pervasiveness of military symbols, heroes and martyrs throughout. Not only "God" and "king" but also "country". You can see the antecedents of Bush's America entombed here, and hymns of praise for their sacrifice.

The poets corner, where poets, writers and musicians are buried and commemorated, was one of the  refreshing spaces in this tomb of fighting and folly. I came away deeply moved by the history but still puzzling over what a different faith-history might have looked like for England, and whether freedom from this mire of history if possible for the English church.

I walked past Methodist HQ, so dropped into the the cafe for lunch. So surprisingly, it was mainly full of very old people. The unexpected highlight was a visit to the Great Hall where the United Nations was inaugurated in 1946.

Got the underground to St Paul's Cathedral. Nearly didn't pay the 10 pounds entry, but then (since Westminster was free....).Even after the Abbey, this place leaves you speechless. The architecture and art are mindboggling. I climbed the first level of stairs to the base of the dome, where the view is dizzying, but my legs weren't going another several hundred steps... Wren's creation has a sense of space, light and endlessness to it that is breath-taking. Although this seems much more a place of worship rather than the "state cathedral", it is nevertheless a cathedral and once again, while remarkable, for me it doesnt evoke a sense of praise...

However what did catch my breath were the two Bill Viola video installations. "Observance" shows a line of people in slow motion queuing up to witness some tragic event - you don't see the event as you stand in the place of whatever it is that they are seeing. Their look of grief and horror is deeply disturbing. Although their dress is modern, you can imagine it as a crucifixion 'observance', or an horrific car crash or something. Very, very powerful.

I only saw the end and then the start of "The Tempest", but my guess from both is that a group of people (again in very slow motion) gather and then are somehow drenched. My day was running out at this stage.

I dragged my feet (they start killing me about 3pm each day...) across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern. I'm here to look at art installations and think about what they might have to do with worship.

The Tate has a HUGE (6 story high) internal space for major installations, but unfortunately this week its empty. but more on the Tate....

"visions"

"Visions" is an alt worship service that's been running since 1991, and its longevity and that of the key organisers is in itself worthy of note and study. "Visions" is an Anglican initiative based at St Cuthberts in York.

"Visions" has a focus on visuals and music, authored by the locals, including Sue Wallace who runs the alt-emerging egroup, her husband Malcolm and a bunch of other people whom I met last night. They meet in half of this old church - a carpeted space with lounge chairs and bean bags and regular chairs, hot drinks on demand. on entry the space is comfy and the visuals and music give a nice chilled atmosphere

This summer they are trialling having the Visions service occasionally during the holidays, so apparently the numbers were low - about 15 people. This was a eucharist on the theme of unity of the body. Of course you can't get a good sense from a "one-off" like this, but I'm making notes anyway.

The front wall is a projection of two large static images (slides?), one each side, with the centre reserved for the liturgy and moving images. Right side is an old oil lamp projection on constant rotation. The far wall has a large painting of a icon of Christ spotlit (they have a bunch of adjustable pencil spots). Centre from are a number of TVs linked to one signal. The centre screen has a data projector running a Mac with the liturgy on Ketnote. The TV screens were showing images mixed on Arkaos, plus a vision mixer with DVD inputs. (I have Arkaos - just need an opportunity to use it!)

The service was an Anglican Eucharist. Music plays nonstop throughout the service, very skilfully DJed by Malcolm. There are some pre-chosen songs and the rest he mixes on the fly. There is community singing - not sure of the sources of all the songs but all have rhythmic, mid to down-temp electronic beats - great bass and nice synths. Sue does this stuff really well and the sound has a bottom end to it.

There's a communion table in the middle and Sue sits at it facing the screen wall at the front rather than the people, using a wireless headseat for amplification. Responsive parts of the liturgy are printed onscreen for us to follow amidst a constantly shifting collage of images - some looped, some appearing at particular moments.

The video mixer chooses the images and video, sometimes with input from a range of people - clearly co-ordinated with the liturgist - however he is choosing and mixing many of the images 'on the fly'. (I wonder about whether a more crafted and scripted visual display might work better.)

For confession we choose a large stone from a bag and reflect on how our actions have prevented unity - the stone are placed in the shape of a cross and words of absolution are offered. Tonight there's no sermon but instead small group discussion on the theme of unity. For intercessions we are invited to light a candle and place it around the cross.

There's a nice responsive, expanded Lord's Prayer. The liturgy has been put together thoughtfully. 

Sue has apologised repeatedly saying that they're working hard on worship for Greenbelt this coming weekend, so I'm not sure how typical this is of what they do. I found it a great experience, particularly the constant flow of images and sound and the sense that this was performative, not pre-packaged.

At any rate, my aim here is not to critique the worship but to observe and to think about how to study what is happening.

We went to the pub across the road afterwards. The beer is crap and they all agree!

I look forward to visiting their "Transcendence" worship at Greenbelt and the techno version of 1662 Evensong.

Thanks Sue and Malcolm for your hospitality and all of you for the experience and welcome.

My aim on this visit has been to observe and to start thinking about how I will analyse the curation of alternative worship. I have a bunch of questions already.