Mark Pierson
Mark Pierson is the Executive Director of Urban Seed (otherwise known as the Receptionist).
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An intuitive introverts guide... 18.
December 28, 2005
As the year comes to an end, and we look back over it and wonder what lies ahead, I’ve been reading some of the comments that have come in over the last few weeks. I’ve left them just as they were sent, all as part of emails, some as part response to questions asked by the Baptist Union of Victoria who gave us some money...
• p.s. Just so that you are aware of it - Urban Seed church is grand. It pulls me in, hems me even...just in the few times I've come along.
• what you give of to the wanderers and the stayers is life-giving, and I left last night surer that life is at hand and love is the end of it.
• I'm just wondering if I'm at Urban Seed because I'm tired of being comfortable and I know I need to stretch myself and maybe even overstretch myself to find out, but it seems like a safe place to be terrified.
• (It’s) a community of Christians who are intent on exploring the presence of Jesus in an involved, urban-focused forum.
• I am encouraged by this no-bullshit, non-threatening, creative approach to church...an approach which is so needed in cities such as Melbourne where superchurch=superman=big buildings and little space for people who don't wear gold watches and exegete leviticus every night before bed.
• The services are simple and unpretentious - the teaching holds together elements of old and new, ritual and new expression...
• hmmmm encouragement comes from seeing people struggling to hoping, I think? - that is what I see the leaders of this church doing. Hoping and causing us to worship; a place for people to hold up their humanity to God.
• I think it is healthy because: the teaching is well-rounded and inspires questions; the church is grounded in creative community work (ie advent art, stations of the cross etc); the church has attracted a diverse range of people.
• having said this, I think that USC church may be often hard and disheartening for its leaders. it is a bit out of the way at the moment, and its a lot of extra load for people who are already wrecked and tired from a week at urban seed in collins st. clearly, however, I am so excited to be involved with wherever it moves/grows/whatever.
• Urban Seed:church has been an important way for me to reflect on the mission work I do at Urban Seed during the week, to offer it in prayer, to discern about past actions and future actions, in a space with people who get this work.
• A new spin on communion has been refreshing for me.
• It’s been a significant spiritual discipline for me.
• I have found the location at docklands to feel isolated, and disconnected with the work of Urban Seed, in which it has as its roots (although I really like the Mission to Seafarers' funky building!!)
• On a personal level, Urban Seed:church has been an important part of the spiritual rhythm of my week. In doing the mission work at Urban Seed which is often draining, I have found Urban Seed:Church to be a place where I feel my faith and spirituality are nurtured.
• I have not felt a strong sense of a Christian community around me through church, and I think this is because of the transience of the attendees. There are obvious challenges that go with this. However Christians often find themselves heavily tied to a church community with very little involvement with communities outside the church, which is unhealthy. Urban Seed:Church is a place where I have both felt and observed people to feel free not to be "religiously tied" to the church and attending every week and committing to every single activity as though it is the only thing in their life.
• It has been freeing for me to be part of a church that recognises that you don't have to attend church every single week to be a Christian!
• I have found it interesting balancing my desire to be committed to Urban Seed:Church and support it because it is important for me spiritually and also for the sake of the church, with the freedom I feel to not make it my whole life.
Stuff like that makes it tough to think about giving up.
Mark Pierson 28 December, 2005. www.urbanseed.org
This column also appears at www.sacramentis.com
Posted by markp at 09:07 PM | Comments (1)
An intuitive introverts guide ... 17.
December 20, 2005
Last week we sent out a couple of hundred copies of our Advent in Art postcards. This is the fifth year I’ve done these. I get 4 people from our church community to choose a piece of art from any time in history – although I prefer non-contemporary works that are more representational than conceptual. I then arrange them in roughly the order of the Christmas story and write a reflection and a ritual to go with each week. The art, biblical text, reflection and ritual are printed in colour on postcards and the sets packagaged and given out to our community and other people to use during Advent. We put our ones in a nice purple envelope.
On the Sundays we have the person who chose the piece introduce it to us in the sermon/rant slot. Last year I did it in conjunction with the Collins Street Baptist Church in Melbourne, and this year with Opawa Baptist Church in Christchurch, New Zealand as well. This helps keep the costs down, although it’s not a hugely expensive project. Responses from people have been very positive. It not only provides a portable devotional tool for people, it has a huge promotional benefit for the church. Louise Giles did a fantastic design job for us, and that’s very important to me. If we’re serious about encouraging artists and having a commitment to the arts permeate through our values then our practice needs to be high quality too. Not necessarily expensive, but good quality contemporary creativity. These postcards have to be capable of picking up people who have no idea about art or design, right through to designers and artists. I think we achieved that very well this year.
Because Lent starts in late February next year, I’ve also been working on our Lenten Reflections and the text and design is finished ready to be printed in January. If Jesus had died in July or August it would have made life in the church so much easier (dying ‘landscape’ rather than ‘portrait’ would have made projecting images of the cross a lot more straightforward as well!). We work with what we’ve got.
November 27: First Sunday in Advent.
Annette told the story through memorising the scripture passage. Nice. I introduced Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca (1467) and got to talk about pregnancy and other favourite topics. I love that painting. Lost my count of numbers.
December 04: Second Sunday in Advent. Grant did a great job introducing us to a painted mural of Mary and Elizabeth from Malawi. Tearing out and hanging newspaper headlines that grabbed us on a clothesline as our prayers worked well again. I dominated the service as curator after a couple of people rostered to participate didn’t turn up. Eighteen adults and four children made up the congregation.
December 11: Third Sunday in Advent. At the last minute I lost from my laptop the American Beauty clip that I had written a Prayer of Confession around – something about being overwhelmed by the ugliness and violence in our world and not seeing the beauty and goodness that was around us. So I read the words without the video. Found the video the next day. Hate that.
Our Advent liturgy stuff is shaping up nicely. The art tonight was Madonna and Child With Saints in the enclosed Garden. A couple of RC nuns and several more RC’s turned up again. Nice. They came for the art. Due to a lovers quarrel our presenter didn’t show so we had an open discussion of the art. It was good. Wide range of participation. Having Claire, an art historian, and a few other Catholics among us kept it all lively. Lost the numbers for tonight too. They were strong.
December 18: Fourth Sunday in Advent. Ray Simpson – Holy Island, Lindisfarne – was with us today. Good seminar in the afternoon about what Celtic spirituality and history has to say to the emerging church, then he spoke in the service on journey and pilgrimage. John La Farge’s Halt of the Wisemen was the art. We sang two songs, including a carol! Most unusual for us. Twenty eight adults and 2 children. It was a good service. Good worship, and a good way to end up the year. Marcus curated.
Great sigh of relief from me at the end. No more services until February 5. Summer break! I love what we do. I think we often do it very well. But for me it comes on the end of a full week and takes time and energy I struggle to find. The last few weeks have been particularly difficult at work, which has made church even harder to sustain. On top of that the venue has been in a mess each week when I’ve arrived and setting up has taken more time and energy. January is a good time to re-evaluate what we are doing.
Mark Pierson December 20, 2005. www.urbanseed.org
(This column also appears at www.sacramentis.com )
Posted by markp at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
