that was Greenbelt 08...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Had a great time at Greenbelt 08! Each year people ask 'what was the best thing about Greenbelt?' and, although I always manage to catch some great seminars/worship/discussions/bands (sometimes completely by accident), I have to say that the best thing about Greenbelt is... Greenbelt! Sounds corny but Greenbelt is just great; nothing makes it great apart from itself - the atmosphere, the environment of active exploration.So no one thing stood out this year as 'the' thing that made Greenbelt for me, but I did enjoy Brian McLaren, Pete Rollins, Philip Yancey, the discussions in The Cooker and (though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea) the Beer 'n' Hymns in the Jesus Arms (organic beer tent which gets bigger every year!)
The Dream at Dawn service seemed to go well, as did the Spirited Exchanges seminars - below is a slide show of some piccies from the Dream service (flash required) - you can see them in full 'here'...
greenbelt 2008 is nearly here...
Monday, August 18, 2008
I'm involved in the following things, so catch up with me here...
Sunday 24th August
from 12pm (ish) - Spontaneous Worship with Dream (it's meant to be a surprise but we'll be somewhere youthish!)
5:30pm at the CMS venue - Spirited Exchanges
Monday 25th August
2pm in New Forms - Dream at Dawn
3pm at the CMS venue - Spirited Exchanges
7pm in The Kitchen - Out of Body Experiences - leaving church, finding faith? (interactive seminar/discussion/panel) with Spirited Exchanges
Apart from this, I'm looking forward to hearing Brian McLaren amongst other things (a bit disappointed that 1 Giant Leap are no longer appearing though). Of course, I'll frequently be around the organic beer tent too!! If you're going, have a great festival!
Labels: churchless faith, Dream, Greenbelt
letter from god to man...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Letter From God To Man (released 28 July 2008)I love this track! I'm not usually into hip-hop but I have to say that this is a really clever song, and the way that Radiohead's Planet Telex is sampled is pretty cool too. The track can be downloaded from iTunes - well worth the 79p price!
The lyrics are inspired (though I'm not sure about the 'survival of the fittest' bit)! You can read them in full 'here' - this is one of my favourite verses, which kind of shows the general tone...
So I’m writing to apologize for all the horrors committed in my name,
Although that was never what I intended, I feel I should take my share of the blame.
All the good I tried to do was corrupted when all the religion got into full swing,
What I thought were quite clear messages were taken to unusual extremes.
My teachings taken out of context to meet the agendas of others,
Interpretations taken to many different ways and hidden meanings discovered
I don't know where Dan Le Sac or Scroobius Pip are coming from with regard to faith, but their lyrics seem to suggest that God is not at fault for the bad in the world but voluntarily takes responsibility for it. Seems to be a pretty orthodox understanding of the cross to me!
I found the below video on YouTube too which sets the song to some powerful images (flash required)...
Labels: art, popular culture, religion
I'm Malcolm Chamberlain
from Liverpool, United Kingdom
. I'm married with two young children and, in addition to Liverpool, have lived in Leicester (for the first 18 years of my life), York, Peshawar (Pakistan), Oxford and Walsall. I've been actively involved in the emerging church since 2001, as a founding member of Dream in Liverpool City, and coordinator of the Dream network. I'm currently engaged in research into emerging missional communities, and work as a parish priest and pioneer minister.
