Book Crossing

A guest on local ABC 702 radio here in Oz was tonight talking about sustainable living, community and sharing resources. As well as agreeing that bike helmets were the downfall of Melbourne's 'bike share' project he mentioned a website and idea called 'Book Crossing' which has a website here

The basic idea is to share your books by registering on the website and putting a Book Crossing ID [BCID] sticker in the book. After you've read the book you could leave it: on a train; at the shops; in a park etc. If anyone picks it up they might register the code on the website and you could follow your books journey across the country and perhaps the world.

Top 5s A tentative beginning to 2011

Although I have a few days holidays left I am beginning to think about 2011 and beyond and enjoy blogging and gearing up for things. I also wrenched my left knee last week so I am doing plenty of lounge surfing and TV catch ups... so this is a good diversion... In 2011 I plan to include a sporadic post of Top 5s to encapsulate resource ideas, thoughts, leadership or some other musing around ministry with young people, culture & context, mission or whatever comes along... kicking off today as I was reminded of an article in our Youth Unit 'MESH' magazine about 'Resources which can change the world' e.g. a pair of rolled up socks for instance.... the article talks about games they can facilitate

TOP 5 Worship Ideas

1. Worship should reflect the missional context, culture and presence of the participants so a Top 5 list will always need to be tested by those parameters rather than just being a list you steal

2. Engaging responses through: grafitti wall; post it notes; taking symbolic cards; dropping a pinch of sparkler powder in a bowl of lit metho soaked clay based kitty litter [be very careful as metho causes severe burns and requires risk assessment and planning alongside competent supervision and practices]; choosing a red or blue jelly bean; taking an orange card and blue card for 2 different responses to remember; creative writing; photo reflections; artwork etc etc

3. Newspaper Prayers with clippings or full copies asking individuals, pairs or groups:

- what's the story?

- what's the story behind the story or what questions does it ask?

- therefore what should we pray for/about?

- how might we act locally to make a difference globally in light of these issues?

4. Brown paper lunch bags, a handful of sand and tealight candles. Making sure they are clear of the bag, these make great instant outdoor lanterns or worship space ambience creators. They can light a path or mark a journey as well.

5. Playback Theatre has been on my wishlist for worship and Bible Study with groups for years. Recently we made time for it twice at our national youth event by selecting a troupe of punters as 'players' who at session end were given 2 minutes to design a skit which demonstrated what they had learnt or experienced in that time.... worked really well and created an immediacy and participation

Perhaps I'll include a resource/book/website idea outside the 5

'The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the role of the worship leader' Mark Pierson is a must read I will blog about seperately another day soon... read about it here at this great new website

Last Minute Christmas Worship Ideas

1. Choose photos from this week or months news and print them on A4 translucent paper [from art/craft shop or some newsagents]. Circle and tape the paper and place the cylinder over candles [even advent wreath candles] checking thy won't catch fire and use these images as a focus for prayers of different kinds and especially for the world

2. ABC 702 Radio Listener/Comp Winners versions of Christmas Carols on 2 CDs from the mid 2000s

3. Choose one or more of your favourite songs with a Christmas connection and use it for a reflection with photos from around your country or issues and happenings at this time of year e.g. I would choose 'Peace on Earth' U2

4. Download or use the 'Digital History of the Nativity' here

5. Place newspaper and a Bible on a focus table and comment on their informing of your worship, prayers and lives

6. Ask people to share 'what Christmas means to you' having run out into the streets today to film a vox pop video of just that question and answers from people in your community or even use the heaps of examples you'll find here

7. Advent Conspiracy

It's too late by now but this one could provide sobering reflections for next year by accessing the competition entries for this US initiative here

8. Make paper chain decorations mixing red and green paper or christmas paper with newspaper for a tree in the worship space used for your 'Reverse or Upside Down Christmas' where people bring non perishable food or tagged gifts for children to be given to community charities or known families

9. 'One Word Prayer of Thanks' invites people to call out aloud or think to themselves 'one' word summing up their thankfulness

10. Ask missional questions around the scripture about who/what it calls us to be? how it changes our lives or focus? where Christ is in our community in the light of.... etc

OK, there you go, last minute creators like myself!! Hope that saves you an hour on Christmas Eve!!

Fundraising for a Cause

I know or have seen lots of blokes entering into the spirit of 'Mo-vember' as they grow a moustache during this month to raise funds for prostate cancer research. From time to time I also see and hear about other efforts to raise funds for needs, tragedies, whole countries and natural disasters. I wonder if there's a group of motivated young people or young adults in the Uniting Church somewhere around NSW/ACT who would be interested in a walk, concert or dinner to raise much needed funds for a world, national, regional or local worthy cause... in response to their 'discipleship'?
It might even be able to be linked to some kind of work party or trip where ongoing help is offered in a 'hands on' way as well!!
I'm sure some 'name bands' would be willing to support a country or region or group in need and it might galvanise a group, provide opportunity for action> reflection and faith shaping!!
BUT it's not something the Youth Unit should do in isolation... if you're reading this and think a group you're connected with might be into this in 2010/2011 then comment and let me know!!

Easter 2010 "BluesFest"

I have just begun making contact with the organisers of the "East Coast Blues and Roots/Bluesfest Festival held at Byron Bay each Easter!! The crazy idea I have is to take a small group of 18-30s plus some leadership away to the Festival over Easter next year! The idea would be to either Camp or do a local Church Hall thing plus cooking...
We could spend the morning reflecting on: Easter in this context; who and where we were; and we'd engage in the Festival like any other 'punter' AND then at the end of the day we could do 'hot chocolate' and a closing reflection and ponder, explore, hope and learn what can/should be our response!!

I don't want to draw energetic leaders away from existing Easter Camps and yet see this as a logical next experiment for some who are naturally moving on from that space plus others who've never necessarily been to such a camp!!

It's an experiemnt in engaging with the context/culture and exploring faith in life, rather than withdrawing to do so!!

It's a Festival that draws acts like: Luka Bloom; Missy Higgins; Blues Traveller; John Butler Trio... the sting is that Festival tix cost $399 this year [stay tuned] but there may be a group discount and I may have access to some subsidy. I do have an eye on other chaeper events as an alaternative but this Festival is the biggest and despite it's title has embraced many more mainstream acts in recent times!!

Turning Increasingly Green

Ocassionally the weekend newspaper or glossy magazines include snippets about curious and trendy products for home and liesure!! One company often featured is Todae which sells products online and from King St, Newtown!

They include:

help with genuine solar installations

biodegradeable crockery

cornstarch or recycled paper pens and pencils

tote or shoulder bags made from old billboard posters

recycled stationery

usb rechargeable gadgets etc

Unfortunately our sink is too narrow for the gray water bucket that makes saving easy... some other less boutique styled product will have to suffice... Todae risks being expensively trinkety and fashionable but has a huge range of great ideas you wouldn't seek out if they weren't all together in one place! The Bokashi bin is even a composting/worm farm equivalent way to reuse food scraps when you live in a Unit or have no time for worms!!

Speed Thinking

I heard Ken Hudson on radio last week speaking about his creative planning idea called 'speed thinking' as outlined in the book "The Idea Accelerator."
The idea is built on stripping away all the things that stiffle creativity when lots of time is spent in planning. Ken gave a number of listeners 30 secs to write a list of things that would solve a scenario he gave them.... It's not brainstorming because that carries 'the power of the pen' and a few other limitations!!
On ocassion in planning teams I have used a similar approach of 'putting the clock on the group' to bring out the task focus and to remind them that often given 90 mins they still only do the work in the last 5, so just take 5!!