[ hold :: this space ]

I talked about this briefly in a recent post, but i didn’t want it to get lost … Proost have released an amazing collection of movies and music based around the traditional service of 9 lessons and carols for advent and christmas. It’s a whole christmas service, and it costs less than A$25 to download! [Mike and I made one of the movies for it, using the amazing photography of Zoriah]

Of course, if you subscribe to Proost [and you're mad if you don't] it comes as part of the package… I mentioned in a recent post that I start worship planning by stealing from elsewhere - Proost is one of the best sources around of inspiration, imagination and creativity for worship. An annual subscription costs around A$150, and gives access to downloadable books, movies and music. It’s seriously good value.

Proost’s Pocket Liturgies have made their way into Unichurch bookshop downstairs - there are copies of a number of them for sale, including the ‘Hold This Space’ book [i must say that both the Grace and Sanctuary books saved my sanity a couple of weeks ago when i was preparing something at the last minute...] Unichurch can be contacted on 9251 5290, and they can post to anywhere in Australia.

i’m slowly re-entering the world after an unexpected week out… i’m running very behind on emails, and, well, pretty much everything… please bear with me if you’re waiting on me for stuff…

i’ve heard the rumour twice now… that i applied to be a candidate for ordination and was knocked back. just wanted to say that i haven’t applied [and won't be], but the church would indeed have been right to knock me back if i had.

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i’m ordering these for christmas presents [no-one i buy them for reads this so i'm safe to put this here]…. i think i just had the beginnings of an idea, something to do with pictures of jesus on the cross, chocolate and easter worship… i might need to add to the order…

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loving this also :

There are hundreds more on the website, with the following explanation:

Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek have worked together since October 1994. Inspired by a shared interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups, they have systematically documented numerous identities over the last 13 years. Rotterdam’s heterogeneous, multicultural street scene remains a major source of inspiration for Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek, although since 1998 they have also worked in cities abroad.

They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people’s attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element.

Julie Perrin has just launched a website to accompany her new storytelling venture, Telling Words. From the website:

Julie Perrin performs stories at conferences, staff retreats and schools; with government, not for profit and corporate organisations.

Stories can set the scene to open a conference or planning day; can place issues in a narrative setting; can draw together the themes of a staff retreat. Stories can go where angels fear to tread and can offer people a memorable experience of shared listening.

Julie’s an extraordinary storyteller. I’ve been part of many groups where she has helped stories come to life. It’s invariably a remarkable experience.

how to find images on the internet

[via Kottke]

From little things, big things grow  is an Australian anthem, written by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody [the story behind it can be found here]. Getup have released a fab new version by a collective of musicians, remixed to include Kevin Rudd’s apology to the indigenous people of Australia.

i’ve been putting a swf together today to use on tuesday for a service i’m curating. the timing’s not right yet, it’s still a bit buggy [the 'i's', what's with the 'i's'?], and i’ll be tweaking it all weekend, but i thought i’d throw it up here now for anyone to use on sunday [if the weekend doesn't get out of control i'll update it to a better version on sunday morning!]. the Israel - Palestine conversations this week fit beautifully with the advent readings for this weekend. i know i’ve used this style before, but it’s quick, and this group won’t have seen it, and i promise not to do it again…

enough excuses. download if you’d like it.

(right-click and save-as, or click to open and play in a window)

 advent1: Download

december always seems so far off - the month where anything and everything is possible. i have said yes to being involved in some brilliant things this advent, but i’m going to have to give up sleep, as well as blogging, in order to make them all fit. it’s a small price to pay.

i’m using this animation at a service on tuesday - the Isaiah reading for Advent 1 is Isaiah 2:1-5… their swords shall be beaten into ploughshares

i just bought and downloaded a stack of greenbelt talks… i’m listening to John O’Donohue today as i work. i started to write down random quotes to remember, and then realised i was transcribing the whole talk. it’s simply wonderful.

each talk is £3… that’s only $7.50… seriously good money spent.

[best quote yet: 'i don't think the will of God is that interesting... but the imagination of God is absolutely fascinating']

i subscribed to Proost at Greenbelt, mostly because i thought it was a great idea - i love that jonny and jon have created a way of sharing resources amongst alt worshipping communities which is accessible, directed by those who are committed to and involved in alt worship, and not dominated by the whimsies and profit lines of book publishing companies [i'm terribly cynical about the book publishing industry]… i hadn’t done much research into what was available on the site. i confess i winced a little at the cost and wondered how it would go down in Australia.

Then yesterday i started to download stuff and realised what an incredible goldmine of resources it is.

There are audio, movie and book downloads - a fantastic selection of resources from a whole range of alternative worship communities, and it’s good stuff. i rarely find things that i’m happy to use ‘as is’, but i’ve bookmarked a lot of stuff already to play with. I’ve just downloaded the pocket liturgy series - the lovely thing about these is that because they’ve come from different alt worship communities, the liturgies are really grounded and real. The movies are excellent - there’s enough variety to work in a whole stack of contexts [have a look at the one on Beatitudes - just brilliant]. I’m about to start downloading the music. so far it seems each section of the site is worth the cost of the subscription in itself - and when you subscribe for a year you can download it all, as often as you want, along with all the new material that will be added throughout the year.

The subscription does look pretty expensive (it’s about A$150 for an annual subscription). i don’t have a massive resources budget, and i’m pretty selective about what i buy with it. i have to say, though, that this is an absolute bargain - there’s so much here that i’ll actually use. As i said before, the real strength in this collection is that it’s the work of real life alt worship communities. It’s stuff that works, it has the flavour of reality - it’s not just ideas that are clever but unrealistic. Break the cost down into a monthly bite and it seems pretty reasonable; go further and get a taste of what you get for that amount of money, and you’ll realise that this - quite seriously - is perhaps the best value resource in the alt worship scene.