benedson

Leaving Sanctus1 - Post 3 - Networks and virtual paper trails

In the olden days when a vicar left a church they would move away and in theory have very limited contact with their ex-parishioners.  I think that in the Methodist church when a minister moves on they are instructed to have no contact for a year.  I can see why both of these make sense - they allowing the new minister to settle in without having the previous minister looking over their shoulder all the time.  This was the case when communities were geographically defined, however within a networked and internet savvy community how can one have no contact?

I could commit internet suicide - killing my profile on Facebook, Ning, Twitter and the blog...but by doing this i remove myself from all my other networks.  I could de-friend people on facebook etc. but this feels slightly aggressive.  So the reality is that my internet presence will remain the same.  Meaning that I will read others peoples fb status', tweets etc. and through that know a little bit about what is going on in Sanctus1.  I'm sure some of it will please me other will make me roll my eyes but as I've said before 'It's God's church not mine.'

I've been reflecting on leaving withing a networked culture and I'm starting to think that the ongoing virtual connections could be positve.  One area that I think is important within leadership is authenticity -  I'm ofter aware of this when I'm blogging, what I write here could be used against me at any point - I cannot move from one place to another, adopt a different persona and snuggly fit into that context.  I am who I am.  Networks and the virtual paper trail that we leave mean that who I am now, is part of who I will be in the future.  This means that when I leave Sanctus people will be able to see that who I was in Sanctus was not a persona adopted for that context but the authentic me.    

Tags: BenEdson, Sanctus1

Leaving Sanctus1 - Post 2 - Managing Transition

Sanctus1 is a very transient community.  I think that people stay around, on average, for about 4 years.  Then due to jobs, partners, age profile etc. people tend to move on.  There seems to be a big change every three years or so, with the pattern being the following:

1 - Grow to about 50-60 people. Transition begins.

2 - People leave numbers drop to 30 people.  Crisis of Identity.

3 - Conversations, reflections etc. on who we are as a community.  Decisions made.

4 - Sanctus1 stabilizes and grows again...

Strangely this has happened three times since I've been part of Sanctus1 - the third one is happening now.  There were a number of factors that triggered it, one being children and another was my announcing that I was leaving.  I have been leading Sanctus1 since it started, and so as I move in it is not surprising that this is a significant change for S1.  This is the case when many pioneers move on. 

The past six months, since I announced my leaving, has felt like I am walking a church through an interregnum period.  A time where people reflect on where they are going and where they want to be.  Due to this there are different agenda's and view points put forward.  These viewpoints were there before, but as I move it creates a vacuum for those views and aspirations to move into.  In the past I have occupied that vacuum, directing, encouraging and shaping where we are going, holding and trying to encompass those viewpoints and agendas.

This is an interesting reflection on leadership, many would rather that vacuum were left empty, a leaderless group.  The pioneer who hold and tells the story of the community, knows more than anyone else about the community - they hold the narrative - and so when the pioneer moves on, the community must seek to know and owns the story.   It means that community holds the narrative and becomes the story teller.   The new leader then becomes a person within a bigger story, rather than the person who carries the story.   It seems to me that this is healthy. 

Sanctus is now moving from Stage 2-3 in this process of transition.  Some people are at stage 3, others at 2, but encouragingly there have been signs of stage 4 in the past few weeks.  The new paid leader has started, he'll shape Sanctus1 in a different way to me, again this is positive as the community becomes bigger than the original pioneer.

I'm aware that I've used language of leadership and pioneering in this post that many will recoil against.  My take on this is that leadership is far more dangerous when it is not owned and accountable.  I hear of leaderless groups and on further investigation I see that there is leadership, however, this leadership is not named and often unaccountable, creating a rather dangerous environment...

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Tags: BenEdson, Sanctus1, Transition

Christmas by Colour

Okay it's only October, but you need to check out Christmas by Colour. A not-for-profit organisation that looks at the colours that shape our Christmas.  I've just ordered the poster...

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Tags: BenEdson, ChristmasbyColour

Leaving Sanctus1- Post 1 - Personal connections

As many readers of this blog will know I'm leaving Sanctus1 in less than a fortnight.  As I prepare to leave I thought that I would do a series of posts on the process of leaving and personal reflections on the past eight years (the time that I've been at Sanctus1). 

Sanctus1 is an emerging church in Manchester city centre that I've been leading for the past 8 years.  I was brought in by the Diocese to start 'new ways of worshiping' in response to the ever changing city centre of Mcr.  It became clear quite quickly that we needed more that simply new ways of worshiping, but that we needed new ways of being church and Sanctus1 was born.  This post is going to reflect on my personal connections with Sanctus1 and my identity, as the pioneer, has at times been too closely tied to Sanctus1.

My spiritual director is a wise woman, she once said to me, 'Ben, It is not your church, it's God's church'.  The sense of liberation that I felt at this was significant - yes I knew this but sometimes it needs to be said before the penny drops - as I prepare to leave Sanctus1 this is the mantra that is running around my head.  It's liberating as often the pioneer is looked at, scrutinized, researched and questioned about what you are doing and why you are doing it.  This can mean that you are over-protective of the church community, always wanting to celebrate the good aspects of it as people are always looking. You are in the ecclesiological gold-fish bowl, always on show...Recognizing that  the pioneer is just a small part in the jigsaw of God's Church rather than the saviour of it is liberating.  Sanctus1 is God's church. 

As many will know I was ordained Priest in the summer.  Romantically, the first time that I presided at communion within Sanctus1 was the beginning of the end for me.  Theologically, communion is a significant for me and so to be able to lead communion in the church community that I have been involved in starting was an important moment.  Part of me wanted to preside at communion only once - Bread bread and go - as it would have signaled the end point as my personal vocation evolved with sanctus1.  Getting ordained also emphasied my connection and authorisation with the wider church, I started to get involved with the church where I'm doing my curacy and so this connection and sense of the bigger picture has helped me to detach myself from S1.

However, my comments about presiding at communion only once concern me as they suggests an over-romaticised connection with Sanctus1.  It becomes too focused of me, as the pioneer, and this reveals one of the greatest tension about pioneering  - it becomes part of your life blood.  You invest too much time, energy and love into the community as you are passionate about it.  You get frustrasted when people do not show the same passion and energy that you do...but they know that because of your passion and energy that you will always make sure that it doesn't fail, always be there to pick the pieces up, always be there to make things happen.   This seems to have happened with most of the people who were involved at the beginning - an unstainable connection with Sanctus1 that needs to change.   So the pioneer must move on, break this attachment and move the community forward in a way that it can be self-reliant. 

Stylistically, I have led the way that S1 is going.  The worship is to my taste, the theology reflects who I am and the graphics and copy are largely written and designed by me.  Fortunately people like what I like but it needs to broaden out so that the worship and theology can be more diverse.  This is the role of the next person, to take Sanctus in new directions, these may or may not be to my taste but that is all part of recognising the breadth of the church.

There is tension in being both the mid-wife and parent.  You work with God to bring the church to life and then you nurture it.  You are the midwife.  Then you grow it, but the parent needs to let go at some point and see if it flies, if it does great if not, well it's God's church anyway. 

When I first told Sanctus1 I was leaving I was quite emotional.  The community has given me so much, I know that it has it's failing, I know that we could do things better but it has been life-giving to me.  I will miss it, but equally I know that it is the right time to move on.

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Tags: BenEdson, LeavingSanctus1,

My thoughts on Pirates...

I've been fascinated by the pirates/orthodox heretic debate that has been happening online.  See Kester's original  posts, then Richard's response then Pete's response and now Richard's second response.  I'm going to wade into this, slightly late, but I've appreciated the space to reflect on the ideas raised.    This motley crew are all friends of mine and writing can often polarise, so thanks for the debate!

My first response is to recognise my own starting point.  I work for the institutional church, I am deeply connected to it and yes, I believe in it.  I believe in it quite simply because it puts money, people and resources into the poorest and most marginalized areas in the country - a piratical, subversive act! -  I minister in one of these areas, an area where the church is the centre of the community and sign of hope for the future.  This is relevant because Pirates essentially attack, rape and pillage that which is perceived to have power, and the institutional church is perceived to be a place of power.  A pirate therefore to me is a threat personally and a pirate also threatens the poorest and weakest in our communites.  This is my own starting point, and I am not saying that this is Kester's point, all I am identifing is that I am threatened by the language.   I'm also aware that a lot of the criticism about this has been written by Anglicans or people working for the Anglican church, perhaps people also threatened by the use of language. 

I'm also wondering what Kester and Pete's starting point is in this.  Are they the Pirates? Orthodox Heretics?  If so I am concern about the self-selecting and self-defining nature of this.  It's essentially the role of the prophet, and my thinking is that the language of prophet is overused and has a romantic notoriety about it.  I've recently read some books by Bryn Hughes, Terry Virgo and people involved in the restorationalist movement, people who are still seen as prophets and arguably pirates or orthodox heretics but to those looking in for the outside they are not seen in a different way.  I think that we need to be cautious with this use of language and aware of the sub-cultural credibility associated with it.

I warm to and like the idea that pirates serve to change the status quo by exposing injustices within in, however, I don't think that the motif pirate is the right one.  When I first read Kester's article in Third Way I thought to myself this is a reworking of Trickster, which I prefer probably because it's less aggressive. Pirates are essentially self-serving, they're not challenging the status-quo they're trying to get rich quick.  They're not challenging the notion of the capitalism itself they're a by-product of it. 

Whilst we may romantically look on and see the wider global concerns that pirates alert us to, we need to first see the pirates in our back-yard and then the romance will be removed.  The pirates who steal our cars, break into our houses, mug us in the streets largely due to the fact that there is great social inequality in our country.  Are 'hoodies' pirates because they expose a wider social problem?   Yes, romantically but no when it involves the shooting of innocent people due to drug addiction that has been brought about by a network of international criminal gangs that could be linked to international piratical activity. 

I'd like to have seen napster, pirate radio stations, Somali pirate's be more like Robin Hood.  Where the wealth is distributed to the poor afterward.  Pirate Radio stations and napster did not address the inequality in the music system that sees 90% of musicians earning less that £10,000 per year - they served the consumer, making music cheaper and meaning that it will be harder for those 90% to earn more than £10,000.  Napster was consumer driven rather than having an wider egalitarian ethic.  It did not have an altruistic vision, it had a consumer driven vision. 

I'm also interested in the language that is being used in this debate.  It's become quite an academic debate, and I'm aware that this is the language of power. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against academic debate I'm just concerned that it is not the language of the pirate but the language of power.  Pirates subvert language, they do not default to the language of the academy, but create their own language. 

Have Kester and Pete gone to far?  No - thanks for stretching the thinking, but I don't think so I just don't agree with the pirate motif!

It's not our World Cup

Hear about the inspirational work of Umthombo Steet Children with South Africa's street children and the Street Child World Cup.

Wednesday 30th September, 19:30, Brunswick Parish Church.

See poster below.

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Critique of Piracy

If you've been caught up with Kester's spin on piracy then also please read Richard Sudworths excellent and very valuable critique.

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An interpretation

To follow on from my last post, here is my interpretation of the last post about the curator, the artist and the block of ice.  In case you don't know I am the curator - well the worship co-ordinator -  and Martin Poole was the artist.  Martin has offered his reflections on it here. Here are my random thoughts on it. 

Firstly, for the artist it was a far longer process and conceptually the process and art work always had an end point.  The arrival of the piece at GB was the start of the end, and the end of a relationship that had involved experimentation, trials and visits, the destruction of the piece sped up the end of the process.   For the curator the process was minimal, it simply involved supporting the artist in their journey, and therefore the experience of the piece of art was more short lived and perhaps there was not the length of time to build a relationship with the piece.  There was not enough time to celebrate it before saying goodbye to it...

Secondly, the destruction of the piece reminded me of the book 'Lord of the Flies'.  The ice block could have been Piggy.  There was something very animal about it, very debased, and strangely very human.  Reminding me of our brokenness.   Perhaps, I should not have been surprised at the response, but I was.

Thirdly, the relationship that we have with beauty is complex.  Can we cope with beauty? Or is there always a desire to destroy?  Always pick the last flower, always destroy the last rhino, not being able to stop our actions before the ice-cap is melted...

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Tags: BenEdson, Ice, GB09, Beyond

The Curator, the Artist and a Block of Ice

There was once an artist who had a idea, he presented the idea to the curator who thought that the idea was brilliant and so they persevered to make the idea happen.  The idea was a reflection on the 'long now' and encouraged people to pause and watch as a massive piece of ice melted. 

The artist tried many ways to get the large block of Ice, including filling a freezer with water and waiting for it to set, but after many hours of experimenting the artist worked out a way that his vision could be realized. The curator, found a site for it, negotiated with all the concerned parties and it was decided that it could happen.  Funds were sought and made available and a date set.

On 27th August a lorry with a freezer section arrived at the site and slowly the massive block of ice was maneuvered into place.  The excitement in the air was tangible as the block was unwrapped, an the ice spire was placed on the block and it quick fused together.  As the initial fog cleared objects which had been placed in the block of ice could be seen; flowers, a rosary, some acrylic crosses and there at the top in the spire was a 'Buddy Christ'. 

The Sun glistened off the ice and it looked beautiful.  It slowly started to melt, streams of water flowed down it, softening the edges and giving a dynamism to the piece of work that had not been foreseen. It was left and the public started to interact with it, touching it, breathing on it to speed up the melting process but patiently waiting, watching, intrigued to see what would happen to this colossal block of ice.  The artist and curator left, pleased at what had been achieved and excited about this evolving piece of worship.

A few hours later stories began to circulate and the curator went back to see the spire had gone.  The stories were that the spire had been knocked off with a slab of concrete and that Jesus was kicked around like a football until his head broke off. 

However, the block of ice was still intact, still beautiful, still melting. The next day the curator walked past, the block was surrounded by a gang of people.  One with a slab of concrete, some with rocks, one with a toffee hammer hacking into the block of Ice - trying to get to the treasures inside.  The curator stopped them, removed the concrete and rock hammer and walked away, slightly distressed at what he had seen. He spoke with the artist, the artist was philosophical:

It was always going to melt, always going to disappear, always going.  They just sped up the process.

 A real-life experience, but also a parable for life.  I have an interpretation, but I'll let you off some first...'

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Tags: Greenbelt09.BenEdson

Greenbelt here I come...

Well almost, I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for Greenbelt09 - and may even put the tent up, depending on the weather! 

Sanctus1 is leading a couple of services, one in New Forms on Sunday at 19:00 and the other is in the Shelter at 11:00 on Monday.  I've seen both services and think they're great! I'm also leading the 'Just-Peace' vigil with Maggi Dawn in the Big Top on Sunday evening at 22:00.  The vigil is an opportunity to reflect and pray for the people and situation in Palestine at the moment. 

Apart from that I'll be hoping that the worship programme runs smoothly and that there are not to many last minute glitches that I have to sort out.  You're likely to find me in the queue for the kids festival, at the beer tent, wine bar, tiny tea tent, contributors patio or marveling at the rice show...aka Stans Cafe.

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Tags: Greenbelt, BenEdson