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Category: Alternative Worship

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Feb252009

The Book – The New Testament as a Magazine

I was intrigued by a post over on Jonny Baker’s blog about a glossy magazine version of the bible.  I ordered it weeks ago but missed the post and had no way of collecting it from the sorting office until the wonderful wife went and picked it up on her way home from work.

I was originally sceptical about how well the full new testament would work as a magazine.  Magazines tend to be short and to the point with small articles.  I envisaged vast amounts of text printed on floppy pages with a couple of pictures here or there.  Instead I found something that looks visually stunning.  It actually feels like it needs to be read.  It is wonderful!  The images are thought provoking and linked with some key passages from the text.  There are many wonderful contemporary depictions of familiar scenes such as the birth of Jesus.

This is clearly not a Bible you are going to want to sit down and read verse for verse with a commentary.  That is not its purpose – there are many different study bibles out there.  This serves a much more important market – those who have never read the bible before and are unlikely to do so because of the format.  We live in a world where a vast majority rarely pick up a book to read.  The internet and magazines are the predominant reading material – and this is who may well pick this up.  As they flick through they may only glance at the occasional piece of text but as with all magazines, key verses are highlighted.

I was at first worried about the durability of this visually stunning glossy mag.  I was quite concerned about the £22 I had paid for it.  What if it becomes less pristine?  What if it looks like it has been thumbed through as though in a doctors surgery waiting room awaiting the next grubby paws to come along and leaf through it.  Hopefully it will become just that.  Hopefully whilst I am making a cup of tea for a couple who have come to talk about the prospect of a marriage in their local parish church they will pick it up.  Hopefully they will paw through it.  Hopefully they will perhaps see what I see – the hope of the world.  Perhaps when it looks a little too dog eared from people finding out about Him, I will buy another one and leave it lying around where people can get their hands on it!

Available from Bible Illuminated and Amazon and you can check out a sample chapter here.

Jan272009

When I needed a neighbour…

I was hungry, and you formed a bible study group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release
I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless, and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely, and you left me to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God,
but I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.

Sorry, I don’t know where it comes from originally.

Jan222009

A Smashing Idea | Worship Idea for Confession

If you are looking for a different way in which to pray for repentance, how about doing it in a dramatic and violent manner?

For this you will need to get some cheap plates and permanent markers.  Ikea or a charity shop will be a good place to get very cheap plates from.  Using the permanent markers, each person is invited to write their sins on a plate.  For the absolution, everyone then comes to smash their plate against some rocks.

Think about how to make it safe – we don’t want to have a Greek Tragedy.  Don’t have everyone coming up all at once.  Put sheets down so that all of the broken crockery can be easily gathered at the end and then throw it away.

Dec52008

Jazz Preaching | Worship Idea

I haven’t posted a worship idea in a while.  I guess that is mostly due to the context I find myself in for the next 6 months.  Worshipping with a monastic community is a wonderful experience and it is greatly informing my understanding of emergence – but it doesn’t often appear to be alt. worship.

This post came out of a conversation at ASBOJesus about the efficacy of preaching a sermon as part of an act of worship.  One of the main concerns was that there was not enough opportunity in a “traditional sermon” for interaction.  This idea for Jazz Preaching came from a friend of mine who used the analogy of how Jazz Musicians interact with each other following a theme but improvising around it.  Her idea was that a small group of people from the church meet in a local coffee shop on Monday morning.  They would go through the readings for the next week and sit and talk about it over a Danish pastry. They would do much the same thing on Thursday morning.  This would then follow on to a pint on Saturday evening with the same kind of theological discourse.  On Sunday morning in church they would then sit around a table and the conversation continues.  People would be able to improvise on the theme because they have been living with the issues raised from the passage for a week.  It would also allow a diversity of opinion and more voices to speak to the conversation.  If anyone has things to say from the congregation they can (Trisha stylee with a roving microphone).