mountain masala

the psalms of life

i'm in brisvegas (aka brisbane) for a few days visiting my parents, staying in the home that i grew up in, and driving around familiar local streets and a weirdly changed city-scape. a trip back home is always surreal, more so when the scenery is undergoing the perpetual change of the  sunshine state.

today i went to the Queensland Art Gallery, mainly because of the exhibition of American Impressionists, on loan from the New York Museum of Modern Art. My heart belongs to the Impressionists, so I had to be there, and the Queensland/Brisbane galleries are so full of light. one of the most impressionable days of my life was such a visit in Melbourne.

i arrived hungry and stood in a long line at the cafe to pay the price of a tank of petrol for a salad roll (I exaggerate only slightly) behind a pair of annoying americans complaining about the queue and why their lunch wasn't 'provided')... found out later that the woman was from the NY MOMA (and yes, I would have been giving them lunch in the 'green room'..... you should have seen her in action... 'THAT LIGHT BULB IS OUT. IT SHOULD BE POINTING AT THAT PAINTING. PAINTING NO. 43. CALL SOMEONE NOW!)... but I digress... if I had been dead for 200 years and an electric spotlight was not pointing at my masterpiece (well actually, one of my cheaper, forgotten works) I would also have been the 'lighting nazi'...

world peace on north terrace

i had a great meeting and conversation today with mark and sue, two minister-artists, about mark pierson's forthcoming visit 14-17 september. i am trying to build a loose network of churches/ministers close to the city who have an interest in the intersection between creative arts, theology and mission. somehow there are quite a few who fit that category, and who are progressive in a good sense (not just in a weird christian-label sense).

we're asking mark to work with us on 'alternative worship' and on public sacred spaces/events, something we plan to continue with jonny baker in march 2010, hopefully involving womadelaide and the fringe.

ch..ch..ch..ch..ch..changes

just a quick update on UCA education here in south australia

.... our five yearly review by the UCA national ministerial education commission is happening this week (will they still let us educate people for ordained ministry, that is the question...) It's perhaps a contentious issue as we're in the process of making the biggest changes to theological education of any of the UCA colleges in the country, and some folk interstate arent too happy about that... missiology? apprenticeship? leadership? what the....?

a community-serving church

last november i visited Gil Wise, a former classmate at Duke, who has a remarkable ministry in semi-rural North Carolina, down south near the border. Gil has rebirthed a congregation that is serving his community through child care, a food bank, and many other services. He's linking wealthy retirees and low income people. He's an amazing man. We are not in the same place theologically, but that's fine. I long ago stopped believing that particular theologies have a franchise on grace. I deeply admire what Gil is doing and he's in my prayers.

there's an article in Duke Divinity School's "Faith & Leadership" e-newsletter.

read it here.

what are you waiting for?

an excellent TV ad from vodafone. thanks to duncan at the inspiration room.

learning congregations #2

I'm going to keep musing about learning congregations in an attempt to keep thinking aloud about why such a focus might be important at this time and what it is that we seek to work on locally.

with all the talk of 'missional leadership' and 'emerging church', is it necessary to have yet another focus like 'learning congregations' or 'communities of practice'.

consider this for starters. peter senge, author of "the fifth discipline" and early guru of learning organisations, says something like this:

characteristics of a learning community
(adapted from Senge’s “The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook”
•    People feel they are doing something that matters
•    Every person is somehow growing
•    People are more resourceful together than apart.
•    The group seeks to tap into the knowledge and experience base of its members.
•    Vision and direction can come from any person.
•    All people are invited to learn about the whole organization.
•    People are free to inquire about their own and others’ assumptions and biases.
•    People treat each other as colleagues with respect and trust.
•    Risk-taking is encouraged. No-one is criticised for making a mistake.

saving paste

as a big fan and longtime subscriber of paste magazine, i've joined the campaign to save them from extinction do to falling advertising revenues in the financial downturn.

you can make a donation and in return get over 100 downloadable songs and a good feeling inside....

six degrees of separation in the uniting church

i've been resisting this for some time, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and claim to be the kevin bacon of the uca. no, not the 'footloose' kevin bacon (although i have treaded the boards in my time - but thats another post). but the kevin bacon who is no more than six direct relationships away from anyone on the planet.

now I cant claim links to iceland or ecuador, but in uca terms, i really think i'm kevin.

unseen music unheard words

i'm rather excited to discover that steve kilbey of 'the church' and martin kennedy of 'all india radio' are just about to release an album that they've recorded together. as a big fan of both groups and the men themselves, this is brilliant!

the album is available for US order here.

steve kilbey's interesting poetry is here.

all india radio also have a new album, 'a low high' out but not yet on itunes. you can download it from cdbaby.

enjoy.

leading learning

we just had our fourth annual "grow & go" training weekend. dreadful name, but we were uncreative at the time. numbers were down. I'm blaming the global pig crisis. or the economic flu meltdown...

anyway, we've had 80+ people in the past at the training and this weekend it was about 45. but I'm not obsessed with numbers... I've had dreams of running a bigger event - one-day event, short electives, more people (like our Mission Expo). but seeing the responses of the more intensive, in-depth learning, I'm revising my thinking here. these people needed and valued the in-depth learning.

we ended up running four streams - pastoral care skills, evangelism, faith & film, and professional ethics for ministry workers. we had four excellent teachers, and the participants really appreciated the weekend. we run Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon. it's not a live-in event, and some people travel for 6 hours to be here. i ran the worship and helped with other arrangements.

if I'm disappointed its that more ministers dont bring a group to events like this. i know from my time in rural Victoria that people will go to an event if the minister goes with them.