Long Journey

Undersound

Steve Collins has posted this link on his Blog

Undersound

Overview:

Not all subways are created equal. What if technology designers recognized this fact and attempted to create an interface that took a deeper look at what being mobile means to each of us? What if they tried to reflect and enhance your sometimes conflicting, but always meaningful and situated, experiences? What if they designed for your underground? They did. They created undersound.

Sounds like a very interesting idea, one that could be applied in many locations. How about in spots around the village and outside venues at Greenbelt?

Blog using ecto

I've been using ecto to post most of the entries on the Blog, and it was about time that I posted about how good this program is.

ecto is developed by Adriaan and Alex over at http://ecto.kung-foo.tv/. The tool is simple in its approach with a lot of power hidden away. It integrates with most hosted services, and suits me the best on the mac.

The main thing I love is the simple way to drag and drop images into a post, resize them and then simply post. Inserting direct from iPhoto is supported, with links to iTunes and amazon there as well. Like all good software it simply works. It is not expensive, and you can even get discount to purchase a mac and a windows license together if you want to....

If you are blogging, and are not using the tool, look at ecto, download the trial. Give it a go. I am sure you won't want to go back......

Version three is due sometime soon, back an interim intel version is available.....

Brands Hatch & Racing

Rebecca & I spent a wonderful day watching racing at Brands Hatch this weekend. We were joined by Simon (my best man), and were invited along by ODL Securities who support the Dame Vera Lynn Trust. This is the trust that runs one of Rebecca's special school and where I am a trustee.

Whilst a wonderful day, it poured with rain the whole time. Rebecca loved the idea, but I was a bit worried that she would hate all the noise. She surprised us by being glued to the heritage race for over an hour, with her neck doing a whole load of work keeping up with the passing cars!

Both Simon & I rediscovered a lost love of mini coopers from our early days of being mini drivers, and the two mini's on the team were superb. Wonderful to watch a works mini keeping its nose on the rear bumper of an Aston DB5 for several laps.

The Lotus on the team came first in its class and actually lead for over 7 laps....

Apart from showing off some nice shots, and bragging about a good day out, why am I sharing this with you lot (assuming anyone visits)?

The main thing that struck me was the welcome we received. The racing team were the most welcoming, moving equipment and stopping their preparations to let the kids get into the cars. This may not have cost them too much in terms of preparation, but it certainly effected their way of working and what they did. My experience of church shows me a very different approach in our congregations. We tend to use the time around services to get ready, and to complete business. This normally makes it hard for visitors/new comers to feel that they can talk to us. We look busy and in most cases are busy doing church. But making the stranger welcome is more than having a welcome team member smile at them as they walk in the door, and is more than having one or two people keeping an eye open to make sure that they "settle" in.

Look at the picture with Simon holding Rebecca. See the grey haired man standing in the background? This is Mike.

Mike is one of the drivers of the Lotus. Mike was putting the wheels on the 2nd mini, making sure it worked fine and was ready for the race. He built the car for his daughter to race. He was the core person of the racing team who welcomed us.

Immediately after the race Mike came over and chatted making us feel part of his racing family. The team didn't seek one another out to celebrate, but first talked and chatted with the visitors, the outsiders, those on the edge. As we wandered off to prepare to leave the team started the next phase of the job.

Would this be true of a professional team, in formula one? Probably not. And maybe that is the issue for us to learn. These people are doing what they love, most weekends, most evenings. It has to be the love of the race (and all that surrounds it) that keeps them going. They are not so absorbed in the act that they don't focus on guests.

At church we need to re-learn this lesson. All too often we look for the professional way of doing things, making things efficient and value for money. Making church work. Perhaps we need to learn the job of worshiping and meeting with God and Christ. We need to re-discover the love of serving, and the joy of sharing.

This is certainly part of a personal lesson, and maybe a lesson for some of you.

Grace - VOX

I visited Grace last night, probably my 1st visit for a couple of years.

The service, VOX, was all about the spoken word and communication. A very simple service in terms of the technical side, a single screen projecting a separate soap box in a small room at the back of the church, a single mic, and Grace's toy - an iDJ.

The soap box was a brave idea. Have nothing prepared and ask the congregation if any would like to step into a room and talk about something they are passionate about for 1 min. After a slow start several people volunteered. The speech was not recorded or sent into the main area, and the room was soundproof. The effect was great, seeing these individuals speaking on the screen with no words and providing a complex backdrop for the service.

Also there were three groups running:

1) Non verbal communication - a look at how actions and gestures communicate just as strong as words.
2) A look at Elijah and the whispering voice of God in the cave
3) A discussion about the voiceless and how they get heard.

The main thing that struck me personally was looking at how God used a small voice in a dank cave to get though to Elijah. With being between jobs and facing that challenge I felt God letting me know that is where I am at. This time is not about a break, or about relaxing. But it is about God having broken the complexity and confusion of life around me, s I may just listen to what he wants to say. So I guess I'd better listen!

The other thing was how much of the ideas conveyed during the service where in tune with what we at Sanctum are looking at for our next service. So please excuse me Grace if we "borrow" a couple of ideas!

Moby - Interviews.

Thanks to Big Bulky Anglican for the links.

Interview

I first saw Moby at Greenbelt some years ago (Castle Ashby or Dean Park!), and I thought he was useless as a musician running around the main stage shouting and rocking his keyboard. What a surprise when I finally sat down and listened to 18. His music is now permanently on my iPod, and is played every for weeks or so. The album sleeves (showing my age here), are fascinating and reading of his world view always provokes thought. The interview is another insight into his thoughts. Well worth listening to.

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Nice Afternoon at the beach

We spent a lovely afternoon on Brighton beach collecting shells from the pebble beach. Rebecca had a great time and enjoyed the sea breeze.

Life is good.

Latest Poster for Sanctum

Take a look at the latest poster for Sanctum - WORD

Its going to be a great service, and we might be taking WORD from Babel, through Jesus, and out to pentecost. Or as Fiona said, most of the Bible then!

Ever felt like you were going backwards?

The BBC has a nice "Friday Afternoon" story of a man in Australia stopped for driving backwards:

Outback driver caught in reverse

A man pulled over for driving slowly in the Australian outback has been charged with reckless driving - because police found him driving in reverse.
The man was stopped for driving at a little over 56km/h (35mph) on a highway near the outback town of Kalgoorlie.

Apparently he had already driven about 20KM in reverse and no sign of him having been drinking.

LINK

Its strange how some people can get so immersed in a way of thinking that stupid activities seem acceptable. I've often felt like I needed to slow down as I was starting to swerve, but never at 80KMH in reverse! One of my faults is that sometimes I get stuck in a way of doing something and keep trying to do it that way until it or I break. Sometimes it takes the "police" to sort out our behavior and point out that we are doing it wrong, sometimes its friends, sometimes its enemies.

So a quick thought for the weekend, is there anything in life that you are doing, which is simply stupid. Are you driving in reverse gear when you shouldn't? Maybe its time to stop and think......

Thoughts on Community

Having spent more time than usual at my computer, I have been playing the Xbox360 more than usual.

One thing strikes me about playing online, is how easily a small community forms just around your gamer tag. You sign in, find a game and play.

I mainly play GRAW, a 1st person squad based game where you basically have to shoot the enemy. I like being a sniper, sitting around spying out the movement and then picking one off is great fun, especially when someone comments on how many times you shot them and they never saw you once! Of-coarse I usually die more often that I kill!

Morality aside (I may write something up on gaming vs violence later), the fascinating thing is how easily these gamers adopt you into their world. One moment you play a few rounds with someone, leave the game, and next thing you know a friend invite is sitting in your messages. You hop on-line and bang, someone wants to play. Its a little like being selected for the team by your mates, without the angst!

What is interesting is the spectrum of people you play with/against, the only real absence is women (no real surprise there!). You can be grouped with Americans (the normal human type), Americans (the tourist type), Builders, Computer Geeks, Doctors, etc. Very little church chat going on, I wonder why?

The community is very open and fluid, playing a stupid game where you need the help of your team mates is addictive. You interact with literally 100's of people a night, and the only time I've ever been ejected was by some french guys who didn't seem to like me being English! I know this because of their chatter about me before ejecting me. It never seems to amaze me how most Europeans will assume you can't understand their language and say the most interesting things to your face!

Any back on subject. Looking at WEB 2.0, and more specifically Church 2.0, I wonder if the church is missing a point here. Most virtual churches I've seen are too focused on the church aspect and leave out the community aspect of their offering. I don't mean it doesn't exist, but where are the Church 2.0 apps that let people drop in and chat, with a nice virtual coffee? Church of Fools let you wander around the most, with a space to sit and chat. What about a sensible chat room that works, built right inside the church app, not just sitting to one side? A place to drop in and simply chat? Wrapped around a place with virtual prayer and virtual service, but still a place to chat.

Does one exist and I missed it (too much time on the xbox?)

So come on us emergent types, lets look at a real virtual church community. Let me know.....