headwayyouth- phil smith's blog

Spirited Exchanges- a bit alternative for the north-east?

Last night Zo and I went to talk to some fellow travellers (in the spiritual sense not the literal gypsy sense) about the possibility of establishing a Spirited Exchanges group in the north-east. We left leaving happy about how things had gone and are looking forward to our first meeting proper next month. Somewhere in Newcastle: details to follow!
I had two 'moments' throughout the evening;

1. At the start of the evening we each spoke about where we were at. It was great. I could have listened all night. One woman described her relationship with the church as that which a woman has with her violent husband who she loves dearly. I suspect I'll be stealing that illustration for years to come!
2. Zo and I have been reflecting on what church is to mean for us in the north-east and it think our conclusion is that different aspects of church are going to end up coming from different directions; we worship at an alternative service in the west of town, we will hopefully have some kind of community with this Spirited Exchanges group and if we want to do some kind of mission then we need to volunteer for some local charity. Not sure if that is a good model or bad, but it's the best we can do.

Alt-emerging on the Tyne

I posted about a month ago about meeting with Andii Bowsher to discuss the lack of all things emergent on the Tyne, well he's been a little more pro-active than I and has done something about this problem:

"On Wednesday night in Ryton, Tyne and Wear, at Holy Cross Church an alternative/emerging kind of service puts its' head above the waters and takes a breath of the Wind. We hope. 8.30pm in a service called Holy Ground. it's a bit of a rallying call to try to see if there are people wishing to get together on a regularish basis to do more"

Looking forward to it!

Children of Men

Last night Zoe and I went to the cinema; I wanted to watch An Inconvenient Truth, Zoe wanted to watch The Devil Wears Prada, we ended up watching Children of Men.

We'd both heard good things about the film, but walked out well impressed. It looked incredible, the plot was full of twists and the direction and acting was immense.
For me it also raised lots of issues. In particular a real awareness that I have adopted that modernist philosophy of progress and that such a philosophy is naive to the extreme.  Stats on terrorism, crime, health, climate change and poverty seem to suggest things are not improving, they're getting worse and therefore unless there is some dramatic change my kids and in particular their kids are going to have a pretty rough time.
I haven't read PD James' book, but the film also raised issues about the division between those that will suffer and those that will prosper. In the film borders were closed as the world collapsed and non-British citizens were held prisoner in Guantanamo like conditions.  The way it was shot however seemed to suggest that those who will suffer most in the future are eastern Europeans and Muslims. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I can't help thinking that such a suggestion might just be correct!

A couple of things...

A couple of things have made me smile while I've been on Holiday,

1. Yell Fire! Michael Franti and Spearhead's latest album, bought after a great performance at Grennbelt. The album is quality, a great mix of anthems and ballards and all things in between. One Step Closer is wonderful!
   (Warning football posts ahead!)
2. Xabi Alonso's goal. Football fans you'll appreciate this...

Edinburgh: so long, farewell

After a great week in Scotland myself and Zoë have now returned to England. Not much else to report (besides a couple of extended shopping trips) and, as is often the case, we hardly took any photos, meaning this post has the potential of being pathetically unillustrated.

Highlight of the trip was definitely Muerk's exhibition. I've been scouring t'internet for some photos and found a few which I've popped in a photo album here- enjoy!

Happy holidays

After a long hard summer, myself and zo are now on two weeks holiday. Destination one for our late break is Edinburgh and thus far it's been most enjoyable. The current highlight of the trip is a visit to a local art gallery to see an exhibition of Ron Mueck's work.

Zo has been wanting to see the exhibition for ages and finally we made it. Mueck makes what are best described as incredibly life-like waxworks, except they're not quite life-like because (as pictured) the exhibits are either extraordinarily small or large.

If ever you get the chance to see Mueck's work it's well worth it.

Oh and apologies for all those people who have commented or emailed me over the past few days- fish, my email provider is down... again!!!

An emerging conversation

I have posted in the past about the spiritual journey that I find myself on while living on the tyne, well it's just taken an interesting twist. It turns out there is at least one other person living in Newcastle who does have some interest in the emerging church conversation and is similarly dissatisfied by what the north-east has to offer. I met Andii for a fair trade latte and roasted vegetable bagette yesterday (he had savory cheese as I recall) and we both shared where we've been, where at and, in terms of church on the tyne, where we want to be headed. It was great to chat to him and to try and develop some kind of plan of action...
Hope to have more news soon...
Very exciting!

Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life

Today I've updated my reading list, which meant removing everything (finished-hurrah!!!) and adding 'Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life' by Christopher Jamison, the abbott from the Worth Abbey, made famous by the Monastary.
The book goes through the basics of the Rule of St Benedict and applies the rule to modern life. I'm purposely trying to take my time in reading the book so, after a fortnight, I'm only a third of the way through, but already it is becoming apparent that there is significant disparity between traditional monasticism and the current alt worship community.

I can see that there is a ideological link between the two- the focus on community and ecology for example- and this is usually played up by the emerging church community, but the more I read the more I am convinced of the differences.

The last chapter I read on contemplation demonstrates this well. Jamison is clear, in reading the text of scripture and engaging in lectio divina we should not question the text but rather allow the text to question us. I can't help comparing this approach to the model of reading demonstrated by Ikon, as a woman stood in silence while "women should keep silent in the churches" 1 Cor 14 flashed up on screen.

I suspect in this specific example it's not a matter of either or, but rather both and; there are verses and times which one should leave the text to question us and other verses and times when we should question the text. The question is sussing out which and when?

Life on the tyne...

As ever it's been an exciting week on the Tyne. Last weekend myself and Zoe went to visit some close friends and camped on the Northumbrian coast; it was a bit windy but much fun nevertheless. Today, those same friends are visiting Newcastle and we've just been to the Baltic, Newcastle-Gateshead's contemporary art gallery.

The Baltic itself is amazing but, more often that not, the exhibitions are a little disappointing. This time however there were two installations that even a Philistine such as myself could appreciate. Firstly there was The Space - Time Tunnel, a 35 metre tunnel of newspapers, magazines and 66 television screens broadcasting global television programmes. Secondly there was an exhibition called Still Lives, by Sam Taylor Wood.

The most famous peice in Taylor-Woods exhibition is a video recording of David Beckham sleeping, but of much more interest was a series of photographs, entitled Crying Men. Over two years Taylor-Wood met a bunch of celebs and asked them to cry for the camera. The results are impressive and a good challenge to the male stereotype.

Nb. I know you shouldn't take photos in these things but I felt I owed it to the blogosphere!

Tag; book meme!

How exciting. Just been tagged by The Old Bill for a book meme, so here goes…

One book that changed your life: Undoubtedly Messy Spirituality, by the late, great Yaconelli. I love stories and the book is full of them and the Yac’s honesty is so liberating. To date I’ve given away seven copies of this book and I’ve one spare on my bookshelf so if anyone wants to do a swap for another good book let me know!

One book that you have read more than once: Hmm… tricky? Pass

One book you'd want on a desert island: 10 Ways to Get Off a Desert Island and A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. Zoë bought it for me a couple of years ago but due to its immense volume I still I haven’t got round to reading it

One book that made you laugh: Can I have two or is that cheating? Timewasters Letters is hilarious and Eats Shoots and Leaves isn’t far behind.

One book that made you cry: Although I am open to the possibility of crying during the reading of a book and do not have anything against the practice, I cannot recall it ever happening

One book that you wish had been written: Web 2.0 for Illiterate Fools

One book that you wish had never been written: This is a bit harsh but probably Stories We Could Tell by Tony Parsons. Not a bad book, but his other three novels were miles better.

One book that you're currently reading: God’s Politics, by Jim Wallis; thoroughly enjoyable but a bit of an epic so it’s taken sometime to finish (full review to be posted in due course)

One book you've been meaning to read: Jpod, I can proudly say I’ve read and loved every other Doug Coupland book, but now I’ve made it this far I think I’ll just wait for it to come out in paperback.

So now I’ve got to tag someone else. How exciting, it’s like school; Mark and Becky, Mr Berry, Ben and Chambers, consider yourselves tagged...